American Airlines is joining the race to remove carbon from the atmosphere, tapping a novel method that is much cheaper than many existing approaches and could boost the fledgling industry.
The airline company is purchasing credits from a startup that uses bricks of carbon-absorbing plant material to sharply lower costs, potentially making carbon removal a widely used climate solution earlier than anticipated. It is one of the first carbon-removal deals by an airline and shows how some of the biggest corporate emitters are trying to find new ways to cut their environmental footprint.

Much of the initial funding for carbon removal came from highly profitable big tech companies such as Microsoft that paid far more than American Airlines. The U.S. government, BlackRock, Amazon.com and JPMorgan Chase also recently invested in the sector.
Carbon removal will be especially important for American and other airlines that hope to fly more passengers while reducing emissions. Sustainable aviation fuel, an alternative to conventional jet fuel that is made from cleaner energy sources, isn’t expected to be widely available for years. For now, American said its carbon-removal deal is a cheaper way to address emissions.