How we made a record-setting agreement to help fight climate change
We understand bold action is needed now to combat climate change. That’s why, earlier this year, we announced an agreement to purchase 1.5 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) over 20 years—one and a half times the size of the publicly announced commitments of all other airlines combined.
We’ve teamed up with Honeywell on a joint multi-million-dollar investment in Alder Fuels, a cleantech company that is pioneering a first-of-its-kind technology for producing SAF. They’ll do this by converting abundant biomass, such as sustainable forest and crop waste, into low-carbon, drop-in replacement crude oil that can be used to produce aviation fuel.
Alder Fuels’ technology, coupled with Honeywell’s Ecofining™ process, could have the ability to produce a carbon-negative fuel that meets today’s jet fuel specifications. The goal of the technology is to produce fuel that is a 100% drop-in replacement for petroleum jet fuel.
This is easily the largest publicly announced SAF agreement in aviation history, surpassing the previous record we set in 2015 with our investment in Fulcrum BioEnergy, which gave us the option to purchase up to 900 million gallons of SAF.
“Since announcing our 100% green commitment in 2020, United has stayed focused on decarbonizing without relying on the use of traditional carbon offsets,” says United CEO Scott Kirby. “Part of that commitment means increasing SAF usage and availability, since it’s the fastest way to reduce emissions across our fleet. However, to scale SAF as quickly as necessary, we need to look beyond existing solutions and invest in research and development for new pathways like the one Alder is developing.”
Please visit united.com/environment to learn more about the other commitments we’re making to reduce our emissions and operate in a more sustainable way.
