One NFL team's aerial game plan now includes a jet fuel that will help reduce its airline pollution.
The 49ers and United Airlines announced in a joint statement that the San Francisco football team is the first NFL franchise to purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). For starters, the team has purchased enough of this fuel to cover flying players and staff from the Bay Area to Southern California for its game against the Los Angeles Rams on September 22. Right now, SAF is mainly used in conjunction with traditional jet fuel, and according to the Department of Energy can be blended with limits between 10% and 50%.
Flying accounts for about 2.5% of all planet-warming carbon pollution, and SAF is considered a crucial opportunity for airlines to reach a more sustainable future because the fuel can be made from biomass like cornstock or even the part of municipal waste from food and yards, rather than from petroleum. SAF could reduce a flight's dirty energy pollution by up to 80%, according to supporters cited by Trellis — and yet full implementation is still a long way off.
"SAF has the potential to be a powerful tool to help reduce carbon emissions from flying, but the industry is still in its infancy, supply is limited, and most people don't know what it is," United CEO Scott Kirby said.
"We're proud to partner with like-minded organizations like the 49ers to demonstrate and elevate to a broader audience why it's important to support real solutions like SAF," he continued.
One of the major hurdles for adopting SAF is that it's still very expensive, even for a small percentage to be used in a mix with conventional jet fuel. The International Air Transport Association has reported that SAF costs 2 to 4 times more than conventional fuel, and the difference in price fluctuates.
However, airlines are getting creative to ramp up adoption: Alaska Airlines, for example, recently launched a first-of-its-kind program that allows flyers to buy SAF credits in exchange for mileage points. And if you're traveling in California, you may already have flown in a plane using a blend of SAF.
The 🏈 x ✈️ collaboration comes on the heels of United's recent purchase of 1 million gallons of SAF from global SAF-producer Neste for departing flights out of Chicago O'Hare. United reports it has purchased more SAF in 2023 than any other U.S. airline, and it has already run a blend of SAF out of five airports. All of this is part of United's strategy to reach net zero by 2050 without purchasing carbon credits, but the plan depends on whether SAF technology and accompanying infrastructure can advance to full-scale usage fast enough.
This makes investments in SAF all the more important at this early stage — including the recent efforts from companies like LanzaJet and Delta — as they're key to helping create a greener aviation industry.
The 49ers' investment for the upcoming flight between San Francisco and Los Angeles is another opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of SAF and help build momentum so that the small percentages of SAF currently used on flights can increase. Plus, the move helps the NFL become a more sustainable professional sports league.
"We are thrilled to join United's Eco-Skies Alliance and take this important step towards reducing our carbon footprint," 49ers chief revenue and marketing officer Brent Schoeb said in the statement.
"As the first NFL team to invest in SAF," Schoeb continued, "this is a meaningful part of our commitment to more sustainable practices, and we're grateful to United for leading the way in this space."
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