USA TODAY International Edition
United investment boosts sustainable aviation fuel effort
United Airlines announced it’s opening a new investment fund – the Sustainable Flight Fund – to help boost its efforts to back sustainable aviation fuel ( SAF) production.
Through the fund, which is opening with $ 100 million in investments from other corporate partners including JP Morgan Chase, Honeywell and Air Canada, United said it plans to support SAF startups and enter multiyear agreements for fuel produced in the near future.
“How do we really accelerate the transition that really needs to happen in aviation, and how do we do it with an eye toward making SAF the fuel of choice, not the least economic option?” Lauren Riley, United’s chief sustainability officer told USA TODAY. “The basic dynamics of the market right now don’t favor sustainable aviation fuel,” which is generally much more expensive than traditional petroleum- based jet fuel.
United also announced it will start displaying emissions estimates to customers who purchase tickets through the airline’s website.
Sustainable aviation fuel
Sustainable aviation fuel comes from a number of sources, including plant- based products that can be mixed in with traditional petroleumbased fuel, and experimental carboncapture technology that creates fuel from atmospheric carbon.
SAF is considered more eco- friendly, not because it doesn’t emit CO2 during flight, but because its production cycle is responsible for removing carbon from the atmosphere more directly than fossil fuel does.
How United Airlines’ fund works
According to Riley, the Sustainable Flight Fund allows United to partner with other corporations to boost projects that will help the aviation sector decarbonize.
“United alone is not going to be able to shift the dial on decarbonization solutions for all of aviation,” she said.
United passengers will also have the opportunity to contribute to the fund directly by opting to pay an additional $ 1, $ 3.50 or $ 7 at checkout.
“We’ve been hearing for some time now: how do I get involved, how do I as an average traveler take action to support the future of sustainable flight?” Riley said. She emphasized that all customer contributions to the Sustainable Flight Fund will actually go directly to the cause.
“There’s no shenanigans underneath the hood here,” she said. “We absolutely need to harness the energy and the action of our customers to accelerate this transition.”
Airline emissions estimates
United Airlines also said it will start displaying emissions estimates for every itinerary on its site.
Riley said that those estimates will be based on an economy class seat, but said that premium cabin customers should be aware that bigger seats with more legroom have a higher rate of emissions per customer because they are typically heavier than an economy seat and their larger footprint results in a relatively higher rate of fuel consumption.
She added that the airline is working with other aviation stakeholders through the International Air Transport Association ( IATA) to develop an industry standard for emissions reporting guidance.
“No one wants to look at one calculator versus another,” she said.
But other calculators already exist. Since 2021, Google Flights has been displaying emissions estimates on most itineraries.
According to Google, the emissions estimates it displays are based on a number of factors including likely flight routing, the engine efficiency of the aircraft type assigned to the flight, cabin configuration, with denser cabins being more eco- friendly, and class of service on the ticket, with premium seats generally having higher emissions.