FedEx Advances Decarbonization with SAF Deployment at DFW and JFK
FedEx is using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in its aircraft at five major U.S. airports.
The global parcel shipping firm added Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW) and John F. Kennedy International (JFK) to its network of SAF-ready fueling sites. Altogether, these depots represent close to five million gallons of SAF.
“Expanding SAF use by FedEx to include our operations at DFW and JFK caps off a successful year of SAF deployments coast-to-coast,” Karen Blanks Ellis, chief sustainability officer and vice president of Environmental Affairs at FedEx, said in a statement. “While we know there remains work ahead to procure more SAF and to continue to educate our stakeholders about how alternative fuels fit into our overall aviation sustainability strategy, we are proud of our steps forward in 2025.”
World Fuel Services is providing two million net gallons of SAF at DFW and JFK through its agreement with FedEx. This SAF is contracted to be delivered as a minimum 30% blend of jet fuel and SAF, which is created from animal and vegetable waste into biofuels.
“World Fuel is committed to expanding the availability of SAF and meeting the sustainability needs of our customers,” said Bradley Hurwitz, senior vice president, Supply & Trading at World Fuel. “FedEx’s purchase at DFW and JFK demonstrates how our aviation fuel distribution platform enables carriers to access lower‑carbon fuel options with a robust supply chain designed for flexibility and scale.”
Memphis-based FedEx is undertaking a decades-long mission to decarbonize its operations both through SAF, electrification and energy efficiency technologies, such as aircraft modernization and fuel savings initiatives. The shipper achieved a 30% reduction in aircraft emissions intensity, compared to a 2005 baseline, in 2024 and aims for 40% by 2034.
FedEx makes close to 17 million deliveries per day globally. Company leadership is committed to changing and evolving utilizing all relevant technologies, including cleaner fuels, energy efficiencies and even artificial intelligence in workplace environments.
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to hate extinction,” Fedex CEO Raj Subramaniam said late last year during a keynote panel at the Schneider Electric Innovation Summit North America in Las Vegas.
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FedEx has publicly committed to reaching carbon-neutral operations by 2040. Among the decarbonization strategies include renewable energy contracts to power facilities, ground fleet electrification, alternative fuels such as SAF and air fleet efficiencies and modernization.
Other commercial and industrial companies which are using sustainable aviation fuel include Delta Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Rolls-Royce, United AIrlines, Honeywell, Embraer, Boeing and British Airways.
The aviation industry creates almost 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to Our World in Data and other reports.
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About the Author
EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is head of content for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
He can be reached at [email protected].
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.