United Airlines Pledges $15 Million for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Technology

United Airlines announced plans to invest $15 million in carbon capture technology company Svante, the carrier’s latest commitment to the new United Airlines Ventures (UAV) Sustainable Flight Fund.

Svante provides materials and technology as part of the value chain that has the potential to convert CO2 removed from the atmosphere and industrial emission sources into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

“We are pleased to have the support of United as one of our world-class investors,” Svante President Claude Letourneau said. “The airline industry has a huge opportunity to make a big impact on global decarbonization, battling climate change through the transition to sustainable aviation fuels and other innovative technologies that will help the world achieve net zero.”

United’s investment will fund and support Svante’s commercial-scale filter manufacturing facility in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The factory is expected to produce enough filter modules to capture millions of tons of carbon dioxide per year across hundreds of large-scale carbon capture facilities. The filters are designed to capture 95 percent of CO2 emissions from industrial sites and CO2 already in the air.

“Carbon capture technology has the potential to be a critical solution in the fight to stop climate change and has the added benefit of helping us scale the production of SAF,” United CEO Scott Kirby said. “And at United we’re building on that approach by investing in both companies that can capture CO2 and others that can turn it into fuel.”

The airline plans to use the technology as part of an effort to be 100 percent green by reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, without relying on carbon offsets. United has also invested in the future production of over three billion gallons of SAF, the most of any airline in the world.