Why United Airlines Is Leading Investments in Renewable Fuel Startups

25.08.2023 - 13:04 / skift.com / United Airlines / Justin Dawes / Airlines

United Airlines earlier this year put together an investment of $100 million dedicated to startups working on renewable aviation fuels. Only five months later, that fund doubled to $200 million and had investments from three other other airlines.

That’s because United Airlines and others are ready now to switch to renewable fuels, but there’s a big problem: a huge shortfall in availability.

“I would love to have a robust marketplace right now for alternative fuels. We would buy it all up,” said Lauren Riley, chief sustainability officer for United Airlines. 

United uses 4 billion gallons of aviation fuel each year. There were less than 80 million gallons of renewable fuels produced worldwide in 2022, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Paired with other measures like hybrid electric engines, adopting what’s known as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is expected to account for 65% of what needs to be done for the airline industry to meet its goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050, according to IATA. Achieving that would require producing 118.9 billion gallons of SAF by that timeframe.

“My biggest priority right now is to figure out how we can lend United’s credibility to establish a market for SAF,” Riley told Skift.

The technology for producing some of these next-generation fuels exists, but it’s a matter of being able to mass produce them at a reasonable cost. A lack of funding is a key missing component to developing those technologies, which is where United’s Sustainable Flight Fund is meant to help. The fund is focused on startups that are developing either SAF or technologies that support production of SAF.

The additional $100 million for the fund came from several new partners, including airlines JetBlue and Hawaiian Airlines. Other investors include Air Canada, Boeing, GE Aerospace, JPMorgan Chase, American Express Global Business Travel, and more.

Other airlines have committed investments to separate funds and projects, as well. Emirates has pledged up to $200 million for SAF development, and Australia-based Qantas has established a A$400 million ($267 million) climate fund to support the development of emission reduction technologies. JetBlue Airways is among other airlines that have invested in sustainable fuel startups.

United has invested in several SAF startups so far — including Cemvita Factory, Dimensional Energy, and NEXT Renewable Fuels — focusing on those that have promising paths toward scalability. 

There is a small amount of SAF available now, and United uses more than any other airline. 

SAF today is made from cooking oil and agricultural waste. Some of the new technologies are looking at creating fuels with alcohol, wood biomass, trash, and atmospheric