United Airlines is making a multimillion-dollar investment into technology that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, marking a shift in the carrier's sustainability strategy away from the "easy path" of carbon offset programs, according to United CEO Scott Kirby.
United will invest in 1PointFive, a partnership between a subsidiary of Occidental and Rusheen Capital Management that is building an industrial-sized plant for capturing carbon. The plant is expected to be able to sequester 1 million tons of carbon dioxide—the equivalent capability of 40 million trees—and permanently store the carbon underground.
The investment is part of United's new pledge to be "100 percent green" by 2050, which Kirby said was a new term for the industry rather than "net zero" approaches that rely largely on carbon offsets. While Kirby said offset projects still play a role, they ultimately are an indirect measure that are ineffective in reversing climate change by themselves.
"Traditional carbon-offset programs can't come close to offsetting a 4,000-times increase in [carbon emissions]," Kirby said Wednesday during a call with media. "It is just mathematically impossible to find enough land to plant 4,000 times as many trees."
Kirby said the carrier has not yet discussed the new investment with its corporate clients who are participating in carbon-offset programs, but he hoped "we can get to a place where we shift voluntary contributions into projects like this, that are more real and permanent."
The investment is one of several parts of United's sustainability strategy. The carrier also is investing in and using sustainable aviation fuel, making its aircraft more fuel-efficient and cutting down on waste with its onboard services, it said.
Kirby said investment in carbon-capture technology long has been a goal of his. Although the Covid-19 pandemic severely has reduced airline revenues around the world, he did not want to use that as a reason to pull back on the investment plans, he said.
"The pandemic makes it more imperative that we take actions like this," Kirby said. "It's become even more clear that we are a part of a global community, and everything that happens around the globe affects all of us."