American Airlines issued its 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report today, providing updates on the company’s strategy and progress across key issues over the year. The report affirms American’s focus on the issues most important to its business and stakeholders, including climate change; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); customer and team member safety; and customer service.
“As the world continues to emerge from the pandemic and reconnect, American Airlines is committed to living our purpose to care for people on life’s journey,” American’s CEO Robert Isom said. “Our environmental, social and governance efforts are key to American’s success today and critical to building a resilient airline that will thrive forever.”
American’s aggressive climate goals include achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, and the report demonstrates that the company has developed a transparent and credible plan to meet this goal. That includes becoming the first airline globally to receive validation from the Science Based Targets initiative for its intermediate GHG emissions reduction targets and being the only U.S. airline to report using more than 1 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel in 2021. The report also includes a detailed discussion of American’s risks and opportunities related to climate change, as recommended by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
American continues to work toward improving diverse representation across the company, meeting or exceeding its 2021 targets for Black representation, and setting new goals for 2022. The company is also making strides in increasing pilot diversity, with 25% of pilots hired by American in 2021 self-identifying as people of colour. In addition, as part of its strategy to embed DEI throughout the organization, American also became the first airline — and one of only a handful of large U.S. companies — to receive Fair Pay Workplace’s inaugural pay equity certification. The company also continues to have an uncompromising commitment to customer and team member safety.
As a result of these and other efforts detailed in the report, American was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the first time in 2021 — the only passenger airline to be included.
