Insight – United Airlines’ net zero strategy

There is probably no airline in the world anymore that hasn’t sustainability as a top priority in its strategy, but few airlines are having such a diverse approach to the topic as United Airlines. Yes, sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) take up more than half of the target to reduce carbon emissions and get to net zero in 2050, but look at what United has more: full electric with eVTOLs and airplanes, hydrogen, and even supersonic. AirInsight talked to Chief Sustainability Officer, Lauren Riley, to find out how this all fits into the strategy. Insight – United Airlines’ net zero strategy.

United is committed to reducing carbon emissions by fifty percent in 2035 and to net zero in 2050. There is no question that SAF will be the most important element of decarbonizing aviation, says Lauren Riley: “We all recognize that sustainable aviation fuel for the majority of aircraft that we have in the skies today is the solution. The benefit is that we can use it today in the infrastructure. We have aircraft that will fly for thirty years, we have fueling tanks and infrastructure at airports that we need to work with, not against. So finding a solution that is drop-in and can be used with the assets we have today is really paramount. So yes, SAF will be the majority of the solution for United Airlines

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United is a frontrunner when it comes to SAF. It invested $30 million in Fulcrum BioEnergy back in 2015, has uptake contracts with World Energy for five million gallons this year, with Neste for twenty million gallons for 2023, and Alder Fuels for 1.5 billion from September 2025. But the five million gallons used this year compare marginally to United’s total fuel requirements of four billion gallons. Going to twenty million next year is already a significant step: “By comparison, in 2020 we used one million gallons of SAF, so going to 20 million in 2023 is huge.” Last December, it operated the first flight on 100-percent SAF in the US.