high match confidence
Sentence-level differences:
- Reworded sentence: "Many aspects of the Company's operations are subject to federal, state, local and international laws regarding the environment, including those relating to water discharges, safe drinking water and the use and management of hazardous materials and wastes."
- Reworded sentence: "In addition, we have in the past been identified and may in the future be identified as a responsible party for environmental investigation and remediation costs under applicable environmental laws due to the disposal or release of hazardous substances generated by our operations, including PFAS, which were designated by U.S."
- Reworded sentence: "Business—Our Approach to Corporate Citizenship and Value Creation—Environmental Sustainability Strategy, the Company has made commitments to reduce its GHG emissions by 100% by 2050 and its carbon emission intensity by 50% by 2035 compared to 2019."
- Reworded sentence: "The precise nature of future binding or non-binding legislation, regulation, standards and accords in this area of increased focus by global, national and regional regulators is difficult to predict and the financial impact to the Company could be significant if future legal standards and regulatory policies do not align with or support the Company's plans to achieve its climate goals."
- Reworded sentence: "There is also a risk that a patchwork of inconsistent or conflicting regional environmental requirements could unduly shift excessive cost burden to airlines and inhibit the development of carbon reduction technologies that the Company needs to reach its climate goals."
Current (2025):
Many aspects of the Company's operations are subject to federal, state, local and international laws regarding the environment, including those relating to water discharges, safe drinking water and the use and management of hazardous materials and wastes. Compliance with…
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Many aspects of the Company's operations are subject to federal, state, local and international laws regarding the environment, including those relating to water discharges, safe drinking water and the use and management of hazardous materials and wastes. Compliance with existing and future environmental laws and regulations has required and may in the future require significant expenditures and operational changes. Violations have led and may in the future lead to significant fines, penalties, lawsuits and reputational harm. In addition, we have in the past been identified and may in the future be identified as a responsible party for environmental investigation and remediation costs under applicable environmental laws due to the disposal or release of hazardous substances generated by our operations, including PFAS, which were designated by U.S. EPA in 2024 as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act. We could also be subject to environmental liability claims from various parties, including airport authorities and other third parties, related to our operations at our owned or leased premises, including our use of PFAS-containing fire suppression systems as required by fire codes and insurers, or the off-site disposal of waste generated at our facilities. As discussed in Part I, Item 1. Business—Our Approach to Corporate Citizenship and Value Creation—Environmental Sustainability Strategy, the Company has made commitments to reduce its GHG emissions by 100% by 2050 and its carbon emission intensity by 50% by 2035 compared to 2019. The Company has incurred, and expects to continue to incur, costs to achieve its goal of net zero carbon emissions, which will involve a transition to lower-carbon technologies (such as SAF), and to comply with environmental sustainability legislation and regulation and non-binding standards and accords. Such activity may require the Company to modify its supply chain practices, make capital investments to modify certain aspects of its operations or increase its operating costs (including fuel costs). The potential transition cost to a lower-carbon economy could be prohibitively expensive without appropriate government policies and incentives in place. The precise nature of future binding or non-binding legislation, regulation, standards and accords in this area of increased focus by global, national and regional regulators is difficult to predict and the financial impact to the Company could be significant if future legal standards and regulatory policies do not align with or support the Company's plans to achieve its climate goals. For instance, CORSIA-related costs cannot be fully predicted at this time, but the program, which requires the purchasing of carbon offsets, is expected to increase operating costs for airlines that operate internationally. There is also a risk that a patchwork of inconsistent or conflicting regional environmental requirements could unduly shift excessive cost burden to airlines and inhibit the development of carbon reduction technologies that the Company needs to reach its climate goals. The Company believes that climate change presents, along with challenges, strategic opportunities and that the sustainability-related solutions the Company is pursuing to advance its climate goals will help mitigate several of these potential risks posed by the transition to a lower-carbon economy. While the Company has not yet purchased carbon offsets for CORSIA compliance, the Company anticipates 27 27 27 Table of Contents Table of Contents being required to do so by January 2028 if a regulatory framework to implement CORSIA within the United States is established. There is a risk that insufficient CORSIA-eligible carbon offsets will be available for purchase for CORSIA compliance. There can be no assurance of the extent to which any of our climate goals will be achieved or that any current or future investments that we make in furtherance of achieving our climate goals will produce the expected results or meet stakeholders' evolving expectations. Moreover, future events could lead the Company to prioritize other nearer-term interests over progressing toward our current climate goals based on business strategy, economic, regulatory and social factors or pressure from investors or other stakeholders. If we fail—or are perceived to fail—to meet or properly report on our progress toward achieving our climate change goals and commitments, we could face adverse reactions from investors or other stakeholders, which could result in adverse effects to the Company. In addition, the Company believes it is possible that, in the future, segments of the public may choose to fly less frequently as a result of negative perception of the environmental impact of air travel or fly on an airline based on carriers' GHG emissions or which carrier they perceive as operating in a manner that is more sustainable to the climate, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the Company and is why the Company is resolute in attaining its mid-term and long-term climate goals; if this trend materializes, the Company's results of operations could be adversely impacted and those impacts could be exacerbated if the Company fails to meet or properly report on its climate change goals and commitments. More broadly, we could also be subject to climate litigation, as groups, individuals and governmental authorities affected by climate change seek to recover climate-related damages from entities they perceive as being partially responsible for human-induced climate change because of the emission of GHGs from their operations. The Company's key pathways to achieving its climate goals include investing in and using more SAF, reducing its conventional jet fuel consumption and working with strategic partners to advance the future of more sustainable flight. The achievement of our goals is therefore largely dependent on the significant development of and maturation in the SAF market. Currently, there is a premium for SAF above the cost of conventional jet fuel and this premium may increase in certain markets in the near future due to SAF blending mandates in Europe, the UK and other parts of the world. The Company has been able to increase its purchases of SAF in recent years due to its corporate customers' funding of the price premium for SAF through the Company's Eco-Skies Alliance, but the willingness of corporate customers to assist the Company in covering the price premium for SAF in the future could decrease for a number of reasons, including based on economic factors or concerns regarding the validity of a book and claim approach for claiming the emissions reductions from SAF, constraints on supplies of SAF that meet customer requirements or emerging SAF certification schemes developed by non-governmental organizations or practices whereby corporate customers purchase the environmental attributes from SAF directly from fuel producers, bypassing the airlines. In addition, the demand for cost-competitive SAF within the aviation industry significantly exceeds the current available supply. While we have been able to increase our current supply of SAF year over year through definitive offtake agreements, we have also entered into certain conditional agreements with start-up companies for future SAF supply. These conditional SAF purchase agreements for future SAF supply may pertain to production from facilities that are planned but not yet operational and which may utilize technology that has not been proven at commercial scale. There is no assurance that these facilities will produce SAF at commercial scale or that they will meet expected production timelines and volumes. As we seek to mitigate our business risks associated with climate change by establishing robust environmental programs, the Company has incurred costs and substantial operational disruptions as a result of both its physical risks (such as extreme weather conditions or rising sea levels) and transition risks (such as regulatory or technological changes) associated with climate change. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, severity, unpredictability and duration of severe weather events and other natural cycles and could affect travel demand as well as result in increases in delays and cancellations, turbulence-related injuries and fuel consumption to avoid such weather, any of which could result in a significant loss of revenue and higher costs. In addition, certain of our and our vendors' and airport authorities' operations and facilities around the world are in locations that may be impacted by the physical impacts of climate change and we could incur significant costs to improve the climate resiliency of our infrastructure and supply chain and otherwise prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the effects of climate change. We are not able to reasonably predict the future materiality of any potential losses or costs associated with the effects of climate change. See Part I, Item 1. Business—Industry Regulation—Environmental Regulation, of this report for additional information on environmental regulation impacting the Company.
View prior text (2024)
Many aspects of the Company's operations are subject to increasingly stringent federal, state, local and international laws regarding the environment, including those relating to water discharges, safe drinking water and the use and management of hazardous materials and wastes. Compliance with existing and future environmental laws and regulations has required and may in the future require significant expenditures and operational changes. Violations have led and may in the future lead to significant fines, penalties, lawsuits and reputational harm. In addition, we have in the past been identified and may in the future be identified as a responsible party for environmental investigation and remediation costs under applicable environmental laws due to the disposal or release of hazardous substances generated by our operations, including PFAS, which are expected to be designated by U.S. EPA as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act. We could also be subject to environmental liability claims from various parties, including airport authorities and other third parties, related to our operations at our owned or leased premises, including our use of PFAS-containing fire suppression systems as required by fire codes, or the off-site disposal of waste generated at our facilities. As discussed in Part I, Item 1. Business—Environmental, Social and Governance Approach—Environmental Sustainability Strategy, the Company has made several commitments regarding its intended reduction of carbon emissions, including reducing its GHG emissions by 100% by 2050 and by reducing its carbon emission intensity by 50% by 2035 compared to 2019. The Company has incurred, and expects to continue to incur, costs to achieve its goal of net zero carbon emissions, which will involve a transition to lower-carbon technologies (such as SAF), and to comply with environmental sustainability legislation and regulation and non-binding standards and accords. Such activity may require the Company to modify its supply chain practices, make capital investments to modify certain aspects of its operations or increase its operating costs (including fuel costs). The potential transition cost to a lower-carbon economy could be prohibitively expensive without appropriate government policies and incentives in place. The precise nature of future binding or non-binding legislation, regulation, standards and accords in this area of increased focus by global, national and regional regulators is difficult to predict and the financial impact to the Company would likely be significant if future legal standards do not align with the Company's plans to achieve its climate goals or if U.S. legislation establishing financial incentives to accelerate the production of SAF development expires and is not renewed. For instance, CORSIA-related costs cannot be fully predicted at this time, but the program, which requires the purchasing of carbon offsets, is expected to increase operating costs for airlines that operate internationally. There is also a risk that the increased regulatory focus on airline GHG emissions could result in a patchwork of inconsistent or conflicting regional requirements that could unduly shift excessive cost burden to airlines and inhibit the development of carbon reduction technologies that the Company needs to reach its climate goals. The Company believes that climate change presents, along with challenges, strategic opportunities and that the sustainability-related solutions the Company is pursuing to advance its climate goals will help mitigate several of these potential risks posed by the transition to a lower-carbon economy. While the Company has not yet purchased carbon offsets for CORSIA compliance, the Company anticipates being required to do so by January 2028 if a regulatory framework to implement CORSIA within the United States is established. There is a risk that insufficient CORSIA-eligible carbon offsets will be available for purchase for CORSIA compliance, leading to potential regulatory enforcement risks. There is also a risk that any carbon offsets purchased by the Company for CORSIA compliance, even if accepted by regulators, could be viewed by third parties as not sufficiently reflecting real, verifiable, and additional GHG reductions, leading to reputational harm. 29 29 29 Table of Contents Table of Contents There can be no assurance of the extent to which any of our climate goals will be achieved or that any current or future investments that we make in furtherance of achieving our climate goals will produce the expected results or meet stakeholders' evolving expectations. Moreover, future events could lead the Company to prioritize other nearer-term interests over progressing toward our current climate goals based on business strategy, economic, regulatory and social factors or pressure from investors, activist groups or other stakeholders. If we fail—or are perceived to fail—to meet or properly report on our progress toward achieving our climate change goals and commitments, we could face adverse publicity and reactions from investors, activist groups, or other stakeholders, which could result in reputational harm, liability or other adverse effects to the Company. In addition, the Company believes it is possible that, in the future, segments of the public may choose to fly less frequently as a result of negative perception of the environmental impact of air travel or fly on an airline based on carriers' GHG emissions or which carrier they perceive as operating in a manner that is more sustainable to the climate, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the Company and is why the Company is resolute in attaining its mid-term and long-term climate goals; if this trend materializes, the Company's results of operations could be adversely impacted and those impacts could be exacerbated if the Company fails to meet or properly report on its climate change goals and commitments. Moreover, we could also be subject to climate litigation, as groups, individuals, and governmental authorities affected by climate change seek to recover climate-related damages from entities they perceive as being partially responsible for human-induced climate change because of the emission of GHGs from their operations. The Company's key pathways to achieving its climate goals include investing in and using more SAF, reducing its conventional jet fuel consumption and working with strategic partners to advance the future of more sustainable flight. The Company has been able to increase its purchases of SAF in recent years due to its corporate customers' funding of the price premium for SAF through the Company's Eco-Skies Alliance, but the willingness of corporate customers to assist the Company in covering the price premium for SAF in the future could decrease, including based on economic factors or concerns regarding the validity of a book and claim approach for claiming the emissions reductions from SAF, or emerging SAF certification schemes developed by non-governmental organizations or practices whereby corporate customers purchase the environmental attributes from SAF directly from fuel producers, bypassing the airlines. The Company may incur substantial costs and operational disruptions as a result of both its physical risks (such as extreme weather conditions or rising sea levels) and transition risks (such as regulatory or technological changes) associated with climate change. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, severity, unpredictability and duration of severe weather events and other natural cycles and could affect travel demand as well as result in increases in delays and cancellations, turbulence-related injuries and fuel consumption to avoid such weather, any of which could result in a significant loss of revenue and higher costs. In addition, certain of our operations and facilities around the world are in locations that may be impacted by the physical impacts of climate change and we could incur significant costs to improve the climate resiliency of our infrastructure and supply chain and otherwise prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the effects of climate change. We are not able to reasonably predict the future materiality of any potential losses or costs associated with the effects of climate change. See Part I, Item 1. Business—Industry Regulation—Environmental Regulation, of this report for additional information on environmental regulation impacting the Company.