US: Did Delta Air Lines’ pledge to go carbon neutral find favor among eco-conscious consumers?

Three years after announcing plans to go completely carbon-neutral, Delta Air Lines is facing a lawsuit for labeling itself “the world’s first carbon-neutral airline.” According to the lawsuit, the American carrier relied on carbon offsets to claim carbon neutrality, which misleads consumers ‘who may have flown with the airline believing they had no impact on the environment.’

In February 2020, Delta Air Lines declared its ambition to go carbon-neutral and pledged $1bn over ten years to mitigate all emissions from its global business. We look at YouGov data to see whether this decision impacted the carrier’s Consideration score among environmentally conscious consumers. Below are the criteria that defines this group of environmentally conscious consumers:

• They are invested in matters concerning the environment and sustainability and are also willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.
• They are conscious about matters concerning the environment and while they do try to act upon it, price is a key factor guiding their purchase decisions.

According to YouGov BrandIndex - which tracks consumer sentiment towards thousands of brands daily - Delta Air Lines’ Consideration score among environmentally conscious consumers has improved considerably since January 2020.

Consideration - which indicates how many consumers are considering purchasing a ticket from the airline - grew from 32% in January 2020 to 40% in May 2023. By comparison, Delta Air Lines’ Consideration score among the general US population remained mostly unchanged during the observation period.

Notably, Consideration for Delta Air Lines also seems to be outpacing many other major US carriers such as American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

Explore our living data - for free

Discover more travel and tourism content here

Want to run your own research? Run a survey now

Make smarter business decisions with better intelligence. Understand exactly what your audience is thinking by leveraging our panel of 20 million+ members. Speak with us today.

Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Delta Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines’ Consideration score is based on the question: When you are in the market next to book a flight, from which of the following would you consider purchasing a ticket? and delivered as a percentage. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 825/5580 US adults between January 1, 2020 and May 31, 2023. Figures are based on a 12-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.

Photo by Miguel Ángel Sanz on Unsplash