At Southwest, we take pride in being the airline with Heart and that includes respecting our Planet. In October 2021, we announced our goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and we released a 10-year plan to maintain carbon neutrality to 2019 levels while continuing to grow our operations. Our 10-year plan centers around the key focus areas Reduce, Replace, Offset, and Partner, and I’m impressed by the work we’ve done so far in each focus area. We couldn’t have done this without partnering with so many of you!
While our environmental sustainability journey is far from over, it is important we take a moment to celebrate the work we’ve done. Personally, I’m really excited about the following actions we have taken:
- Investing in SAFFiRE, a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Pilot Project
- Becoming a Founding Member of the Aviation Climate Taskforce
- Announcing 15-Year Agreement With Velocys for SAF
- Committing $10 Million to Yale University to support climate change research
- Adding SAF to our Oakland operations
- Launching a Carbon Offset Offer for our individual Customers with Rapid Rewards Bonus Points,1 and for every dollar contributed toward offsetting Southwest’s carbon emissions, Southwest will match the contribution.2
If you’re interested in learning more about our environmental sustainability efforts, check out southwest.com/Planet. With both new and updated content, these web pages provide a great look at the different initiatives Southwest is focused on.
1 Taxes and fees (except for the processing fee) will not be matched by Southwest or earn points. Rapid Rewards® Members can earn 10 Rapid Rewards bonus points per dollar contributed towards the purchase of offsets for Southwest up to a maximum of 500 Rapid Rewards bonus points per month. Points will only be awarded to the Member’s Rapid Rewards account number entered at the time of the carbon offset transaction. Terms and conditions apply.
2 Carbon emissions for flight activity are estimated using several factors such as: aircraft type, conventional jet fuel consumption, flight distance, and assumed load factor. Emission estimates are based on the fleet wide distance-weighted average performance of Southwest’s flights from the Second Quarter of 2022. Southwest’s emissions estimates do not quantify the potential climate change impact of non-carbon emissions resulting from a flight. Actual carbon emissions may vary from estimates. All offsets will be retired in the name of Southwest Airlines Co.