Delta is committed to providing safe and clean transport for customers and a safe workplace for employees.
At Delta, we realize the opportunity to leverage our brand’s trust to drive good vendor practices, touching every aspect of our business.
Delta’s mission to connect the world includes our commitment to being a strong partner to the communities where our employees live, work and serve
Delta has remained steadfast in our commitment to address climate change
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Our people are our strongest competitive advantage, and the high-quality service they provide sets us apart.
Delta has implemented a robust governance framework over ESG matters at the board and management levels.
Travel Can Change the World. For Good.
CLIMATE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
01
Overview
Delta has remained steadfast in our commitment to address climate change, and we are well-positioned to accelerate our decarbonization work going forward.
During 2021, we announced our intention to set new and ambitious medium- and long-term climate goals aligned with the applicable framework of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and the science underpinning the Paris Agreement. We have submitted both goals to SBTi for validation, but we are unable to predict the outcome of that process and when it will be completed. Pending approval of these goals, we are tracking improvements in fuel efficiency. Once our targets are validated, we will begin reporting emissions intensity.
In this section, we provide a high-level overview of these science-based targets and the key elements of our anticipated decarbonization pathway before describing progress toward our existing goals and evaluating climate risks and opportunities based on our climate scenario analysis.
Net Zero by 2050
Our long-term goal is net zero by no later than 2050, and we have announced our intention to set a net zero GHG emission goal covering our airline operations and value chain (Scopes 1, 2 and 3), in alignment with the United Nations Race to Zero – Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign.
Improving Emissions Intensity in the Medium-Term
We have announced our intention to set a medium-term, science-based target as a milestone on the path to achieving net zero. We aim to reduce life cycle jet fuel GHG emissions on a per revenue ton kilometer basis by 2035 compared to a 2019 baseline.
Our ability to achieve our ambitious climate goals is dependent on the actions of governments and third parties and will require, among other things, significant capital investment, including from third parties, research and development from manufacturers and other stakeholders, along with government policies and incentives to reduce the cost, and incent production, of SAF and other technologies that are not presently in existence or available at scale.
Our Decarbonization Pathway
In order to achieve net zero by 2050 and meaningful emissions intensity improvement by 2035, we will need to use all levers commercially and economically available to us now and in the future, including:
Fleet renewal
Expected to provide the largest impact on advancing our goals in near-term
SAF
Goal of 10% SAF by the end of 2030 with 5% achieving 85% lower life cycle GHG emissions than conventional jet fuel
Operational initiatives
New Carbon Council expected to drive continuous operational improvements in fuel efficiency
Offsets
Out-of-aviation sector solutions, such as removal offsets, will likely play a role
Path to reduce absolute emissions and improve emissions intensity
We are developing a decarbonization pathway to advance the climate goals described above.
The graphic models one potential pathway and the potential impacts to emissions intensity and absolute emissions through 2035.
This pathway is a proposal that is subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside our control.
As illustrated by this graphic, even with meaningful improvements in fuel efficiency, our absolute emissions are expected to grow for a period of time due to projected capacity growth in future years.
We would aim to achieve absolute emission reductions over the medium- to long-term as we move toward 2050 and more low-carbon technologies become commercially and economically available.