Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Lobbying Overview: American Airlines exhibits both positive and negative engagement with science-aligned climate policy, with strategic engagement. While the company had positive top-line messaging, it advocated to weaken US federal sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) sustainability criteria and retains memberships to industry associations that have engaged negatively on US climate policy.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: American had mostly positive top-line messaging on climate policy in 2023-25. In its 2023 Sustainability Report, published in July 2024, American stated support for the goals of the Paris Agreement. In the same report the company also supported action to decrease the impact of contrails on the climate, but did not take a clear position on regulation. However, in this report, American also appeared to support global measures over regional and national climate regulations for aviation.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: American’s 2023 Sustainability Report, published in July 2024, supported the US SAF blenders tax credit and disclosed advocacy to ‘enhance and extend’ the federal SAF tax credit, without specifying the amendments supported. In the same report, American’s CEO, Robert Isom, also stated support for Illinois’ SAF tax credit. Through the SAF Coalition, American frequently supported the extension of the Clean Fuel Production Credit under the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, including in a July 2025 X post, however, this bill proposes amendments that are likely to reduce the emissions reduction potential of the credit. Additionally, in a February 2024 Fastmarkets article, American opposed the EU SAF mandate.
In a November 2023 joint letter American appeared to support weaker SAF sustainability criteria under the SAF blenders tax credit. American further supported the Farm to Fly Act, a measure that promotes aviation fuel produced from agricultural crops, in an April 2024 joint letter and through the SAF Coalition in March 2025. Furthermore, through the SAF Coalition’s May 2025 press release, American supported the Clean Fuel Production Credit under the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, which proposes to remove indirect land use change from carbon intensity calculations for SAFs. The SAF Coalition further appeared to directly support the amendments to indirect land use change under the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ in a May 2025 media article. In addition, through the SAF Coalition’s July 2024 regulatory comments, American appeared unsupportive of a combination approach for climate-smart agricultural practices, which requires more than one practice to be used, and appeared unsupportive of ‘overly prescriptive’ verification.
In August 2024 regulatory comments, American opposed the mandatory inclusion of intra-state jet fuel under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
Positioning on Energy Transition: In 2023-25, American supported an energy transition from kerosene jet fuel to sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) and zero-emissions technologies. American’s 2022 Sustainability Report, published in July 2023, supported expanding green hydrogen use in aviation, alongside bio-based SAFs. Similarly, American’s 2023 Sustainability Report, published in July 2024, supported the increased use of SAF and renewable hydrogen-powered aircraft.
However, American endorsed the passage of the House Budget Reconciliation Bill, which proposes to repeal or phase out many of the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate incentives and facilitates the build-out of fossil fuel infrastructure, on a May 2025 White House webpage.
Industry Association Governance: American has not published an industry association review, but disclosed a list of its memberships to industry associations in a ‘Statement on Public Policy Engagement and Political Participation’, released in July 2023. Robert Isom, CEO of American Airlines, is on the Board of Directors of Airlines of America and the International Air Transport Association, both of which have engaged negatively on US and global climate policy for aviation. The American Airlines CEO is also a member of the Business Roundtable and American Airlines is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce, both of which are negatively engaged on climate policy.
A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2025.