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The Climate Crisis and International Airlines
School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham GL502RH, Gloucestershire, UK
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Received: 23 November 2024 Accepted: 28 March 2025 Published: 3 April 2025
Abstract
Across the business spectrum companies are under increasing pressure to decarbonize their operations in the fight against climate change, and nowhere is this pressure greater than in the aviation industry. The aviation industry faces a range of challenges in decarbonizing, including costs, the currently limited capability of alternative technologies, a lack of regulatory support, and long aircraft lifespan. This paper explores the ways the leading international airlines are tackling climate change and their approach to achieving net zero by 2050. The research method is based on a scoping review of the existing literature and an analysis of the publicly available material from 10 leading airlines. The article finds that whilst there is a firm commitment from the airlines to initiate the transition to net zero and contribute to the fight against climate change, detail on how this will be achieved is scant. Rather, both the extant literature and evidence from the airlines suggest there are many obstacles to be overcome that will require radical change in technological, socio-economic and industrial/political spheres if the required transition in the industry is to be achieved.
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Keywords
climate change; net zero; aviation; airlines; decarbonization; sustainable aviation fuel (SAF); offsetting; sustainability
Copyright © 2025
Wynn and Jones. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use and distribution provided that the original work is properly cited.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Cite this Article
Wynn, M., & Jones, P. (2025). The Climate Crisis and International Airlines. Highlights of Sustainability, 4(2), 95–107. https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain4020006
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