United Airlines
CEF Lead Executives
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LAUREN RILEY
Chief Sustainability Officer
Lauren is responsible for leading United’s environmental sustainability strategy, including progressing its climate commitments, scaling sustainable aviation fuel, evaluating decarbonization technologies, and achieving environmental compliance. This portfolio supports United’s commitment to achieve 100% green by zeroing out carbon emissions by 2050 without relying on traditional carbon offsets, and by 2035, reducing carbon intensity 50% compared to 2019. Lauren is recognized as Business Insider’s 100 People Transforming Business and 2021 Environment+Energy Leader 100. Focusing on the relationship between innovation and environmental sustainability, Lauren has led a variety of initiatives addressing business and digital transformation, strategic planning, and change management that yield environmental and operational benefit. Lauren earned her MBA from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental science from Bucknell University. She is a certified Change Management Advanced Practitioner through Georgetown University and PMP Certified.
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ROHINI SENGUPTA
Director, Decarbonization
Rohini has worked across industries as an environmental and climate change expert. As the Director of Decarbonization at United Airlines, Rohini leads a team that focuses on United’s long-term climate strategy and pathway to net-zero. Rohini is the lead for carbon technology and supply strategy to meet United’s climate goals through in-sector reductions, focusing on emerging technology solutions that need to be scaled to help solve the hardest part of the global ambition to decarbonize. As an expert on SAF and aviation climate policy, Rohini is a nominated expert on ICAO’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) Fuels Task Group, sits on Argonne National Laboratory’s SAF Industry Advisory Board, and engages with domestic and international industry associations. Before joining United, Rohini was an environmental and greenhouse gas specialist at BP, focusing on biofuels and hydroprocessing R&D and refinery greenhouse gas emissions. Rohini received her Bachelor of Science in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University in New York.
Latest Sustainability Reporting
2023 Corporate Responsibility Report (April 2024)
Highlights
- First airline globally to announce publicly a climate goal without reliance on traditional carbon offsets.
- First U.S. airline to show customers an estimate of their flights’ carbon footprint when booking.
- Enhanced disclosures on climate strategy, metrics and targets, and risks and governance for its Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures reporting.
- As of March 2023, 34% of system wide motorized ground service equipment was electric powered.
- In 2022, reduced total waste by over 6,000 tons and improved our annual recycling total by more than 1,000 tons, diverting waste from landfills.
- Near-perfect pay equity for employees of all genders and races performing comparable work across U.S. management and administration roles.
- More than 90% of new-hire interview slates for management and administrative roles included a diverse makeup of candidates.
- Doubled diverse supplier spend year over year in 2022 (to $172 million), and aims to reach $400 million in 2023.
- Included in Diversity Inc.’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity 2023 list.
Recent News
2025
UNITED AIRLINES VENTURES SUSTAINABLE FLIGHT FUND — Entered into an agreement with Heirloom for the right to purchase up to 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) or for permanent storage underground. The Fund also made an equity investment in Heirloom, its first in a direct air capture (DAC) technology. (March 2025)
2024
UNITED AIRLINES / NOAA — Announced a first-of-its-kind multiyear collaboration to equip a Boeing 737 with instruments to measure greenhouse gases (GHGs) during domestic flights. This could significantly improve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) monitoring of CO2, methane and other GHGs, as well as improve the accuracy of weather forecasts, “at just 1% of the cost of deploying research aircraft.” The effort will also help support United Airlines’ goal of reducing wispy contrails, which can trap heat. (July 2024)
SAF Coalition — Aims to rapidly scale investment in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) sector and advocate for the incentives and policies necessary to expand SAF supply and promote U.S. economic competitiveness in the SAF marketplace. The coalition consists of 41 companies and organizations that hold a stake in the development and deployment of SAF, including CEF Members The Boeing Company, GE Aerospace, and United Airlines. (May 2024)
United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund — Added eight new corporate partners to this sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)-focused investment fund. This brings total capital to over $200 million and membership to 22. New partners include CEF member Google. (Feb 2024)
2023
Joined the CEF member network in December 2023!
UNITED — The United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, a way to increase the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by supporting SAF start-ups, has increased its investment power to nearly $200 million and added eight new corporate partners, five months after its initial launch. New members include CEF member Bank of America and inaugural fund partners include CEF members Boeing, GE Aerospace, Honeywell, and JPMorgan Chase. (July 2023)
UNITED — Announced it would use 10 million gallons (37.9 million liters) of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2023, three times what the company used in 2022. United also announced eight new participants in its Eco-Skies Alliance program to support SAF use on United’s Flights, including CEF members Bank of America and Cisco, bringing the total number in the program to 24. (May 2023)
United announced eight new participants in its Eco-Skies Alliance program to support SAF use on United’s Flights, including CEF members Bank of America and Cisco, bringing the total number in the program to 24. (May 2023)
BLUE BLADE ENERGY — United Airlines, energy infrastructure company Tallgrass, and biorefining company Green Plains announced a new joint venture, Blue Blade Energy, to develop and commercialize a novel ethanol-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology. If successful, Blue Blade will construct a pilot facility in 2024, followed by a full-scale facility by 2028. The companies will invest up to $50 million to develop the technology, and United has entered into an offtake agreement for up to 135 million gallons of SAF annually and up to 2.7 billion gallons in total. (Feb 2023)
The United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flights Fund — United Airlines, along with five corporate partners, launched this first-of-its-kind investment vehicle to support start-ups focused on accelerating the research, production, and technologies associated with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The fund starts with more than $100 million in investments from United and its inaugural partners: Air Canada and CEF Members Boeing, GE Aerospace (GE), JPMorgan Chase, and Honeywell. Customers can also donate to the fund when buying a ticket (with the first 10,000 receiving 500 United Miles). (Feb 2023)
2022
UNITED / DIMENSIONAL ENERGY — Signed a commercial agreement under which United will purchase 300 million gallons of Dimensional Energy’s first-of-its-kind carbon-neutral sustainable aviation fuel over twenty years. The fuel is made using just three readily available components—captured CO2, water, and a catalyst—in a reactor powered by renewable energy. The process, in addition to being carbon neutral, is also relatively easy to scale because it isn’t limited by feedstock supply. Use of the fuel will contribute to United’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality, without carbon offsets, by 2050. (June 2022)
United Airlines Ventures (UAV) and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV) announced a collaboration with Houston-based biotech firm Cemvita Factory to develop the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through a new process using synthetic microbes that convert CO2 into hydrocarbons. If development is successful, UAV and OLCV plan to form a joint venture to commercialize the technology. Cemvita is the third SAF-related technology in which UAV has invested. (May 2022)
2021
Eco-Skies Alliance — 12 companies, including CEF members Meta, Microsoft, and Visa, joined United Airlines’ corporate alliance to reduce aviation-related environmental impact and create demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Existing signatories have collectively contributed to the purchase of over 7 million gallons of SAF this year—enough to eliminate approximately 66,000 metric tons of GHG emissions. (Dec 2021)
HONEYWELL / UNITED AIRLINES — Announced a new multi-million-dollar investment in cleantech company Alder Fuels for what they say is the largest ever sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) agreement. They aim to produce a carbon-negative SAF that is a 100% replacement for petroleum fuel by coupling Honeywell’s Ecofining™ process with Alder Fuels’ SAF technologies. United Airlines committed to purchasing 1.5 billion gallons of the new SAF over 20 years—1.5 times the size of all airlines’ publicly announced commitments combined. (Sept 2021)
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UNITED AIRLINES — Announced that at least 50% of the students in its United Aviate Academy will be women and people of color as it seeks to train 5,000 new pilots by 2030. It has partnered with JPMorgan Chase to offer scholarship opportunities. (April 2021)