A United Airlines jetliner taxis to a runway for take off from Denver International Airport, Dec. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
United Airlines is launching a venture fund designed to support startups that are working on making jet fuel more sustainable and decarbonizing air travel. Air Canada, Boeing, GE Aerospace, JPMorgan Chase, and Honeywell are also partnering in the effort.
"Solving climate change is doable but it requires hard work and real leadership," said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby in a statement. "This fund is unique. It's not about offsets or things that are just greenwashing. Instead, we're creating a system that drives investment to build a new industry around sustainable aviation fuel, essentially from scratch."
Over the past two years, United has invested in multiple companies associated with "sustainable aviation fuel" (SAF) such as Cemvita, Dimensional Energy, and NEXT Renewable Fuels. SAF is any jet fuel that produces fewer greenhouse gasses. Right now, these alternatives must be blended with conventional jet fuels to meet regulations. The goal is to increase this ratio.
United Airlines itself has invested in the future production of three billion gallons of SAF.
To accelerate the transition, United will give customers the option to contribute to the fund whenever they buy a ticket, with the first 10,000 contributes to receive 500 bonus miles. The default contribution is set at $3.50. At that rate, if all 152 million people who flew on United in 2022 contributed, United said it would generate 40 million gallons of alternative fuel annually.
Helping this effort along is a new tax credit through the Inflation Reduction Act, which United said will accelerate investments in SAF infrastructure and supply and help lower costs.
The company said it aims to be 100 percent green by 2050 without relying on carbon offsets.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
It’s an annual tradition: the Fed’s banking ‘stress test.’ A year after the regional banking crisis, there are good reasons to make sure they’re prepped.
