Sustainable operations

Sustainable operations

Reducing our carbon footprint is the most significant way American can minimize our impact on the environment, but we also work hard to improve environmental sustainability across all of our operations. Our Environmental Policy Statement (opens in new tab) articulates American’s commitment to developing and implementing sustainable business practices designed to address climate change, efficiently use natural resources, reduce waste, prevent pollution, reduce noise, conserve biodiversity and help stop deforestation.

Renewable energy

As part of our goal to source 2.5 million gigajoules (GJs) of cost competitive renewable energy to power our operations by 2025, we purchased more than 644,000 GJs of electricity from renewable sources for our headquarters facilities and operations at DFW in 2022. In the past year, these facilities were 100% powered by renewable energy.

100% powered by renewable energy in our DFW operations
Cool effect

Enabling our customers to offset their flights

Through American’s partnership with Cool Effect, our customers can calculate the emissions of their flights and purchase carbon offsets. Cool Effect uses more than 90% of each offset dollar to fund a portfolio of carbon-reduction projects that protect and conserve our planet’s resources.

Learn more about Cool Effect (opens in new tab)

Reducing environmental impacts on board and on the ground

Finding ways to reduce or eliminate single-use plastics is a key part of our efforts to reduce waste on board our aircraft, and we are in the process of exploring recycled plastic alternatives. We have also increased our use of sustainable cutlery kits made of bamboo, and our regional operations offer a fully compostable meal box with prepackaged snacks. We have instituted a number of sustainability improvements on the ground as well. For example, composting food waste from the lounges at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport diverted more than 100,000 pounds from landfills in 2022.

Green building
American Airlines headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas

Green building

We are integrating green building principles — such as energy efficiency, water conservation and sustainable materials — into our new and renovated facilities. We also have multiple LEED Gold- and Silver-certified facilities across the United States, including two LEED Gold-certified buildings at our corporate headquarters campus that we opened in 2019. The Skyview 6 hospitality complex that opened in January 2023 incorporates a number of features designed to reduce heat island effect, light pollution and energy use.

Cloudy skies on a sunny day

Visit our Resource Center for links to numerous American Airlines documents, policies, webpages and other sources of information about our company’s approach on various sustainability topics.

Sustainability at American Airlines

Our annual sustainability report details American’s approach to managing our priority sustainability issues, along with highlights of our progress and performance during the year.
American Airlines