Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) has been named a 2023 Sustainability, Environmental Achievement, and Leadership (SEAL) Business Awards winner in the Environmental Initiative category for its investment in SAFFiRE Renewables, LLC (SAFFiRE1), a pilot project supporting the development and production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The SEAL Awards recognize and honor individual programs and initiatives that move the needle on environmental progress and demonstrate leadership toward a sustainable future.
"For Southwest, SAF is the most critical lever we have to achieve our climate goals, which is why we're supporting initiatives like SAFFiRE," said Helen Giles, Director Environmental Sustainability at Southwest Airlines. "In hard-to-abate sectors like the airline industry, driving meaningful progress on environmental sustainability requires every possible tool available. We're grateful to be recognized by the SEAL Awards for our innovative approach to decarbonization."
Spotlight on SAF
SAF is instrumental in Southwest's environmental sustainability plan and path to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and Southwest has announced multiple offtake agreements and memoranda of understanding with SAF producers. By 2030, the carrier has set a goal to replace 10% of its total jet fuel consumption with SAF.
In June 2022, Southwest announced its investment in SAFFiRE, a company formed by D3MAX LLC, as part of a Department of Energy (DOE)-backed project to develop and produce scalable SAF. The project is expected to utilize technology developed at the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to convert corn stover, a widely available agricultural residue in the U.S., into renewable ethanol that would then be upgraded into SAF. According to NREL, this could produce significant quantities of cost-competitive SAF.
Southwest also recently launched the 2022 One Report highlighting its refreshed climate strategy, including goals to reduce its carbon emissions intensity by 25% by 2030 and 50% by 20352. The comprehensive report includes information on the carrier's sustainability goals and initiatives and provides a snapshot of its efforts across its four-pillar strategy to Reduce, Replace, Offset, and Partner. To view the 2022 One Report, visit southwestonereport.com.
1 Sustainable Aviation Fuel From [i] Renewable Ethanol2 Southwest's carbon emissions intensity reduction goals are compared against a 2019 baseline on a revenue ton kilometer basis [including Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 Category 3 emissions (upstream emissions of jet fuel)] and includes the use of sustainable aviation fuel and excludes the use of carbon offsets.
