Key progress in 2023 includes American’s collaboration with Breakthrough Energy and Google Research on groundbreaking research on contrail avoidance, which will inform how the industry might address its impact on climate change. The report also includes a discussion of how American is extending its commitment to sustainability to its sourcing and procurement practices.
“Thanks to the hard work of our more than 140,000 team members, American continues to deliver results for our customers while making progress toward our sustainability goals,” said American CEO Robert Isom. “There is much work to be done and many areas where we will continue to rely on policymakers and partnerships to make progress. But I am proud of our record — from advancing the development of lower carbon technologies, to our work to develop and recruit a diverse and talented group of leaders with unmatched experience across the company.”
Through ongoing engagement across the company and with a broad range of external stakeholders, American has identified four priority sustainability themes discussed in detail in the report: safety; team member support; customer satisfaction and operational performance; and climate change and fuel efficiency. American has remained committed to its long-term sustainability goals, recognizing the challenges and interdependencies in achieving them.
“American’s goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is the right one, but it won’t be easy,” said American’s Chief Sustainability Officer Jill Blickstein. “Our report outlines the concrete steps we’ve taken and sets the foundation for the hard work in the years ahead. American is committed to working with our partners inside and outside the aviation industry to put ourselves and our industry on a path to meet these global challenges.”
In line with American’s commitment to transparency and strong industry standards, the report also substantially aligns with recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and the airline industry standard developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.