A carbon footprint is defined by the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with any specific activity or transaction. The carbon footprint is often broken down into 3 scopes of emissions:

(i) Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions and cover GHG emissions by an organization. This could be the emissions that are directly generated by manufacturing goods. It also includes fuel combustion, company vehicles, and fugitive emissions.

(ii) Scope 2 emissions are indirect GHG emissions from the consumption of purchased electricity, including heating, steaming, or cooling.

(iii) scope 3 emissions are all other indirect emissions (or value chain emissions) related to the company’s activities, including emissions caused by vendors within the supply chain, outsourced activities, employee travel, and commuting. In many industries, Scope 3 emissions account for the largest amount of GHG emissions.

SAF stands for Sustainable Aviation Fuel. As opposed to conventional jet fuel which is made from fossil fuels, it is a renewable and sustainable biofuel made from products such as used cooking oil, significantly reducing its carbon footprint. Today’s SAF can reduce emissions by approximately 80% or more per gallon, and in the future this is expected to improve as new technologies emerge. Currently, SAF has a significant cost premium compared to conventional jet fuel. Through your contribution on CHOOOSE, you not only help reduce the emissions associated with flying, but allow us to source more renewable fuel for future flying.

What are the benefits of SAF compared to fossil jet fuel?

The emission reduction benefits of SAF are pretty significant. They include the direct CO2 emissions (combustion) and indirect CO2 emissions (production distribution, transportation). There are also reductions in sulfur and other particulates, leading to a “cleaner” burn.

What is SAF made from?

SAF can be produced from a variety of sustainable resources, also known as “feedstocks”. These include used cooking oil, waste animal fats/greases, agricultural waste, trash destined for landfill (municipal solid waste), algae, and others. In the future, we expect SAF will also be made from harvesting CO2 from the atmosphere, known as “direct air capture”. Importantly, JetBlue does not source SAF from palm oil or PFAD residues, as it cannot be sustainably harvested and can result in deforestation.

Is it safe to fly on SAF?

Absolutely. SAF meets exactly the same quality and safety requirements as conventional jet fuel. The reason this is different than conventional jet fuel is the concept of “lifecycle emissions”. When burning SAF in the aircraft engines, the lifecycle emissions include the CO2 removed from the atmosphere by the sustainable feedstocks before it was turned into fuel — these “negative emissions” seek to balance out the CO2 emitted from the combustion of the fuel. SAF producers are also using renewable electricity, carbon capture & sequestration, renewable natural gas, and other technologies to further improve the negative emissions part of the equation, and some fuels might eventually even be “carbon negative” on a lifecylce basis.

Can my SAF contribution reduce my flight's carbon emissions by 100%?

Yes. Since today’s SAF has approximately an 80% reduction in lifecycle emissions vs. conventional jet fuel, if you choose to replace the fossil jet fuel from your flight with the same amount of SAF, the carbon reduction can be as much as 80%. However, if you choose to replace more than the total of conventional jet fuel associated with your flight with SAF, you can actually reduce your carbon emissions by 100%. It is completely up to you!

SAF (short for Sustainable Aviation Fuel) is renewable biofuel made from products like used cooking oil, animal tallow or trash—which is combined with conventional jet fuel to safely and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of air travel. JetBlue has been purchasing SAF for many of its flights from SFO and LAX since 2020 through our partners Neste and World Energy.

Currently, SAF has a significant cost premium compared to conventional jet fuel. But, when you contribute to JetBlue’s SAF purchases, you can help by reducing the indirect emissions associated with your flying, and also allow us to source more renewable fuel for future flying. We've been working with our business travel partners to help fund some of our purchases of SAF. Now, by allowing you to contribute to SAF through CHOOOSE, we can extend this opportunity to all of our customers and all types of travelers. [Sharing is caring.]

Why contribute to SAF?

First and foremost, your contribution helps JetBlue buy SAF, in addition to the renewable fuel we’ve already purchased and are flying on today. JetBlue already flies regularly using SAF out of San Francisco and Los Angeles International Airports, with plans for significant expansion in the Northeast.

But there’s more. With your contribution to SAF, you’re saying that you—the customer—care about sustainability and want to see more sustainable fuels in aviation. There’s an extremely limited amount of SAF available to airlines, and the cost premium compared to typical jet fuel means there aren’t many producers yet. Your support is an extremely important step in sending that signal to producers that there’s a market for sustainable fuels. JetBlue is working to increase the availability of SAF across our network—with SAF producers, policy-makers, infrastructure operators, and airport authorities—and we hope to see much more SAF availability in the coming years. With our collective efforts, we can begin to bring down the cost premium to SAF, making it more affordable, accessible and a more regular part of flying.

How are my SAF contributions used?

Your contribution helps cover the difference in cost between SAF and conventional jet fuel, allowing us to ‘upgrade’ more conventional jet fuel to be SAF.

Disclaimers:

• Contributions to the SAF program (“Contributions”) will be held in a designated account by JetBlue. JetBlue will use 100% of the contributions to the future purchase of sustainable aviation fuel (“SAF”) and/or blended SAF products.
• Contributions are voluntary, non-refundable, and non-tax deductible. They do not constitute a surcharge or ancillary fee in addition to the customer’s airfare or other services/products purchased by the customer from JetBlue or its affiliates.
• Contributions are non-transferable and cannot be used as a credit for airfare or other services offered by JetBlue or its subsidiaries.
• JetBlue does not make any assurances as to the timing of the use of Contributions. JetBlue’s use of Contributions is partially dependent on factors outside of its direct control, such as the market availability of SAF/blended SAF products. JetBlue retains the right to make purchasing decisions regarding the use of Contributions.
• Contributions do not grant customer title to Scope 1, 2, 3 greenhouse gas emissions reduction credits, or any other environmental credits or attributes, which are retained by JetBlue and/or its business partners (i.e., SAF producers and blenders).
• Contributions may be used to purchase SAF or SAF-blended products from entities in which JetBlue or its subsidiaries which may be partially owned by JetBlue or its affiliates, or which JetBlue has a separate non-financial interest.

CHOOOSE™ delivers a platform that enables both individuals and organisations to understand their carbon footprint and connect with trusted climate solutions around the world. For more information, please visit chooose.today.