United has today launched the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, a novel investment vehicle designed to support start-ups focused on decarbonization of air travel. The fund starts with over $100 million from United and their inaugural corporate partners.
On Tuesday (February 21, 2023), United Airlines announced the launch of the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, a one-of-a-kind investment vehicle designed to support start-ups focused on the decarbonization of air travel. In particular, the fund aims to accelerate the research, production and technologies associated with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). With investments of over $100 million from United and their inaugural partners Air Canada, Boeing, GE Aerospace, JPMorgan Chase, and Honeywell, United will identify and invest in SAF technology and production start-ups. Over the past two years alone, United Airlines Ventures has invested in start-ups including Cemvita, Dimensional Energy, and NEXT Renewable Fuels.
In today’s announcement, United Airlines’ CEO, Scott Kirby, said,
“Solving climate change is doable but it requires hard work and real leadership. This fund is unique. It’s not about offsets or things that are just greenwashing. Instead, we’re creating a system that drives investment to build a new industry around sustainable aviation fuel, essentially from scratch. That's the only way we can actually decarbonize aviation.”
Additionally, any customer purchasing tickets on the united website or app now has the option to contribute $1, $3.50 or $7.00, supplementing United’s investment in the fund, and the first 10,000 contributors will each receive 500 MileagePlus Miles.
On a lifecycle basis, SAF can reduce GHG emissions by 80 percent compared to conventional jet fuel. SAF is made from used cooking oil and agricultural waste, and may eventually derived from other sources such as household trash or forest waste. Currently, regulations require that SAF must be blended with traditional fossil-based jet fuel for use in aircraft. To date, United has invested in the future production of $3.0+ billion gallons of SAF.
Source: United Airlines/PRNewswire