United Airlines Invests in Twelve’s Sustainable Fuel

United Airlines has reinforced its dedication to making aviation more sustainable by investing in Twelve, a cleantech leader developing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from carbon dioxide and water powered by renewable energy. This investment, through the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund℠, is a critical milestone toward growing sustainable, low-carbon aviation alternatives to traditional jet fuel.

Twelve, based in California and founded in 2015, has developed a groundbreaking electrochemical process that mimics photosynthesis. By using only carbon dioxide, water, and renewable electricity, the company produces synthetic fuels and chemicals, including SAF, which can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% compared to traditional fossil-based jet fuels.

The investment is part of United's Sustainable Flight Fund, a $200 million effort that unites a strong coalition of industry leaders, such as GE Aerospace, Google, and Embraer. The fund is aimed at speeding up the development and commercialization of SAF technologies, which are viewed as being paramount to the transition of the aviation industry to net-zero emissions.

Scaling the SAF industry is the significant barrier air travel must overcome in order to increase supply and drive the cost of lower carbon fuels down," United Airlines Ventures' head Andrew Chang stated. "Twelve has separated themselves with the capital they have raised and the SAF contracts they have achieved."

In fact, Twelve's recent achievements underscore its readiness for commercial deployment. The firm obtained an $83 million Series C round of financing and is nearing the start of operations for AirPlant™ One, its inaugural commercial-scale SAF production plant in Moses Lake, Washington. It will start operating later this year with a capacity to produce 50,000 gallons of drop-in SAF each year. This fuel is fully compatible with existing aircraft and infrastructure, requiring no modifications to be used in today’s aviation systems.

One of the pivotal milestones in the Twelve journey is a newly secured 14-year deal with one of the big European airline groups. The contract encompasses the sale of 260 million gallons of SAF to five carriers within the group, placing it among the biggest SAF contracts inked so far. Apart from confirming the efficacy of Twelve's technology as well as the ability to manufacture at scale, the deal further points to the trend within the aviation sector for large-scale, long-term commitments toward sustainable fuel alternatives.

Twelve's co-founder and CEO, Nicholas Flanders, highlighted the importance of United's support at this point in the company's development. "United's Sustainable Flight Fund investment reiterates our momentum at a critical juncture as we transition from innovation to implementation," he said. "We're not merely conceptualizing the decarbonization of air travel—we're constructing it."

This alliance supports United Airlines' overall sustainability approach. The carrier has made it a goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 without using conventional carbon offsets and has positioned SAF at the center of its decarbonization strategy. In contrast to offsets, which pay to reduce emissions elsewhere, SAF actually cuts emissions from the source—providing a more direct and effective solution.

By investing in commercially and scalable SAF producers such as Twelve, United hopes to overcome the twin hurdles of cost and supply that have so far limited SAF adoption. Although SAF accounts for less than 1% of total aviation fuel consumption today, there is consensus among experts that scaling up its production is critical to the aviation industry's ability to achieve global climate targets.

The success of companies such as Twelve shows that the transition from test technologies to actual application is already in full swing. With strong support from both the public and private sectors, Twelve is well set to lead the way in changing the future of aviation fuel.

As airlines globally grapple with increased pressure to lower emissions and conform to more stringent environmental laws, United's latest action shows how shrewd investments in groundbreaking cleantech technologies can help open the doors to a cleaner, more sustainable future for aviation.