Path to Sustainability
Path to Sustainability
Charting the course for the future of flight.
Connecting people to a more sustainable future
Setting a bold vision and accelerating our work to deliver sustainable travel experiences and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 is not only good for communities and our planet, it’s a business imperative.
No one better connects the world
Elevating Delta's world-class performance and service means our focus includes connecting people to a more sustainable future of travel.
Despite the challenges of our hard-to-carbonize sector, Delta has already achieved significant results, like reducing single-use onboard plastics by nearly 5 million pounds annually. We also saved 10 million gallons of fuel in 2022 while planning for an additional 10 million gallons in savings annually, thanks to the work of Delta's Carbon Council.
Delta’s foundation is strong.
Now we accelerate.
Our focus pillars
Embed sustainability in everything we do
Eliminate our climate impact from flying
Embed sustainability in everything we do
This pillar is critical to our near-term success and is key to infusing a constant sustainability mindset across our business. It supports delivering sustainable travel and includes the most visible aspects of Delta’s products, services and facilities, while advancing opportunities for our people and benefiting communities where we live, work, and serve.
The Travel Experience
- CORE CHALLENGE - CIRCULAR WASTE REDUCTION
- Reducing, reusing and recycling waste while improving the customer experience and our operations.
- OUR ROLE
- Find innovative ways to eliminate waste onboard and on the ground.
- WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR
- Implemented near-term solutions (e.g., bamboo cutlery), while testing innovative solutions for key sources of plastic (e.g., cup, bottle).
- WAYS WE’LL KEEP OUR MOMENTUM GOING
- Eliminate single-use plastics across customer journey.
- Continue to innovate onboard products and services.
- Supporting airport waste and recycling infrastructure development.
SUPPLY CHAIN
- CORE CHALLENGE - EXTENDING OUR IMPACT
- We partner with thousands of suppliers around the globe, each with their own carbon footprint that needs to be decarbonized.
- OUR ROLE
- Create transparency and accountability in our supply chain.
- WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR
- Expanded environmental standards for suppliers and implementing supplier management tools for environmental factors.
- WAYS WE’LL KEEP OUR MOMENTUM GOING
- Create carbon transparency in our supply chain.
- Set net-zero plans with our suppliers.
- Encouraging vendors to develop their own path to net-zero.
GROUND OPERATIONS & FACILITIES
- CORE CHALLENGE
- Decarbonizing ground operations requires not only equipment investment, but infrastructure investments at airports, Delta facilities, and on the grid.
- OUR ROLE
- Electrifying Delta equipment while sourcing renewables faster
- WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR
- In 2022, Delta retired and replaced over 650 pieces of equipment with electrified GSE; achieved ~25% electrification of GSE; and approached 100% electrification of bag tractors, push-back tractors, and belt loaders at BOS and SLC hubs.
- WAYS WE’LL KEEP OUR MOMENTUM GOING
- Continue to electrify GSE, aiming toward ~50% of fleet by 2025.
- Support charging infrastructure at airports.
- Acquire renewables to power our facilities and ops.
Eliminate our climate impact from flying
This is where the real impact of our commitments is felt. 98% of our carbon footprint comes from our core business of flying. Making changes to how we fly, what we fly and the fuel we use to power our fleet is the focus.
efficient aircraft operations
- CORE CHALLENGE
- Continually improving what we fly and how we fly to maximize the efficiency of our existing fleet and operations.
- OUR ROLE
- Integrating the latest in smart routing, weight reduction, cutting-edge operational processes, and fleet enhancements to maximize fuel savings.
- WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR
- In 2022, alone, we saved over 10 million gallons of fuel thanks to the companywide efforts of Delta’s Carbon Council that included enhanced winglet installations for drag reduction, weight reduction initiatives and flight routing/speed optimizations.
- WAYS WE’LL KEEP OUR MOMENTUM GOING
- Continuously improving to accrue 3% fuel savings annually across the entire fleet through 2035 (v. 2019 fuel usage), saving a cumulative total of 1.1 billion gallons between 2019 and 2035.
Clean fuel
- CORE CHALLENGE
- SAF is a relatively nascent technology with several scaling challenges that require cross-industry action – there is not enough SAF today to fuel a fleet Delta’s size for a single day.
- OUR ROLE
- Create demand signals to attract capital, encourage incentives and ensure support of all ecosystem stakeholders required to scale SAF.
- WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR
- Committed to 200M gallons of SAF offtakes and are already halfway to our 10% SAF goal by end of 2030.
- WAYS WE’LL KEEP OUR MOMENTUM GOING
- Direct investments in SAF innovators
- Coalitions with partners to enable the SAF supply chain
- Streamlining SAF purchases for our customers
REVOLUTIONARY FLEET
- CORE CHALLENGE
- Operationalizing Innovation: Disruptive innovation is necessary to redefine aviation but faces significant structural hurdles.
- OUR ROLE
- Partnering with innovators to revolutionize what and how we fly
- WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR
- As of 2022, Delta has launched several strategic partnerships with promising revolutionary technology, including Airbus ZEROe to explore potential for hydrogen-powered aircraft, and Joby eVTOL for electric home-to-airport transportation.
- WAYS WE’LL KEEP OUR MOMENTUM GOING
- Accelerating the Delta Sustainable Skies Lab to more formally leverage Delta’s world-class assets to help innovators operationalize disruptive technology.
Demonstrating progress with transparency
Delta has set out aspirational goals for 2050 as well as a series of incremental milestones along the way to measure our progress.
Embed sustainable travel in everything we do
MORE SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL
INTERIM MILESTONES
*Core fleet consists of baggage tractors, belt loaders and aircraft tow tractors
INTERIM MILESTONES
INTERIM MILESTONES
ASPIRATIONAL GOALS
Eliminate our climate impact from flying:
NET-ZERO EMISSIONS
INTERIM MILESTONES
INTERIM MILESTONES
INTERIM MILESTONES
80% reduction of addressable warming contrails*
ASPIRATIONAL GOALS
100% Reduction of addressable warming contrails*
25% of fleet made up of revolutionary aircraft
We Can’t Do This Alone
It will take all of us doing more than our part to be successful. Collaboration inside and beyond our industry is essential.
DELTA SUSTAINABLE SKIES LAB
Delta Air Lines has launched a first-of-its-kind airline innovation lab to accelerate research, design and testing for a more sustainable future of air travel.
Delta Sustainable Skies Lab will feature ongoing work across Delta today, inspire disruptive industry innovation, and scale known tech and actions to reach Delta’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
THE SUSTAINABLE SKIES LAB WILL CONTINUE TO
ACCELERATE ongoing work within Delta and partners utilizing the lab platform to collaborate and prototype.
SHOWCASE work to inspire innovation, new internal and external ideas.
GO BEYOND FINANCIAL INVESTMENT to innovate with our people, operations, know how, global scale and reach of network.
Connecting Possibilities
As we define the future of aviation, we are as dedicated to making immediate progress as we are to investing wisely in disruptive solutions.
This work not only serves us today, but helps ensure future generations of Delta people can connect the world for our customers and communities.
AND WELCOME ABOARD
Statements on this webpage that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our expectations and goals, should be considered “forward-looking statements” under the federal securities laws and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations and goals. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.