Kuehne+Nagel will buy the equivalent of up to 5.2 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2026 to cover air freight emissions from a set of Google Cloud shipments. The arrangement gives other shippers a model to reduce air freight emissions through their forwarder instead of rerouting cargo or shifting shipments to the ocean.
How it works: None of the fuel is loaded onto the specific planes carrying Google’s cargo. Instead, the deal uses a system called book-and-claim:
Kuehne+Nagel buys SAF made from waste materials such as used cooking oil and tallow. The fuel is burned on regular flights that draw from a shared airport fuel supply
The forwarder receives certificates for the resulting emissions reduction, up to 12,600 tonnes of CO2e, and assigns that reduction to Google's shipment volume
Google does not need its cargo to physically fly on a SAF-powered aircraft to claim lower emissions
The approach lets a company pay for cleaner fuel anywhere in the system and apply the benefit to its own freight. Because SAF is still scarce, this is currently the main practical way to cut emissions from air cargo.
The limits: Two factors constrain how useful the model is for other shippers.
First, emissions reductions from book-and-claim cannot yet count toward a company's formal, validated climate targets. The accounting standards set by groups such as the Science Based Targets initiative are still being written. A shipper with approved science-based targets cannot fully apply these reductions today.
The second is cost. SAF costs roughly three to five times more than conventional jet fuel. Kuehne+Nagel's announcement does not say whether Google, the forwarder, or both absorb paying that premium. That is the number other companies would need in order to evaluate a similar deal.
Who else is buying: Large technology companies shipping AI and data center hardware have become the most active buyers of these arrangements because their cargo is high value, time sensitive, and tied to public emissions commitments.
Microsoft signed a deal with Cargolux and AIT to cut 66,000 tonnes of CO2e over three years. Amazon bought 7,500 tonnes of SAF from Neste for its Amazon Air operation. Kuehne+Nagel describes the Google deal as a pilot, with only the 2026 volume committed so far.
Dig deeper:
Clean Energy 101: Book and Claim — Rocky Mountain Institute — how certificate-based book-and-claim works, why direct procurement is simpler, and where the accounting risks sit.
SAF Production Growth Rate Is Slowing Down — IATA — the hard numbers on SAF scarcity: 1.9 million tonnes in 2025 is just 0.6% of jet fuel consumed, and growth is projected to slow further.
