Why your holiday flight is still not being powered by sustainable aviation fuel

Worries about investment and cost are stalling progress.

Salman Ahmad, Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management, University of the West of Scotland • conversation
June 26, 2025 ~6 min

How the war in Ukraine has made flying worse for the climate

No-fly zones in Europe and the Middle East are making planes travel further and burn more fuel.

Viktoriia Ivannikova, Assistant Professor in Aviation Management, Dublin City University • conversation
Feb. 10, 2025 ~7 min


Airlines are being hit by anti-greenwashing litigation – here's what makes them perfect targets

Claims of sustainability or low-carbon flying are being challenged in court.

Calum Maclaren, PhD Candidate, Climate Litigation, University College Dublin • conversation
Oct. 3, 2023 ~8 min

The future of flight in a net-zero-carbon world: 9 scenarios, lots of sustainable biofuel

Airlines are promising net-zero emissions by 2050. To get there, they’re experimenting with used cooking oil, ag waste and corn ethanol in their fuel tanks. But that alone won’t be enough.

Steve Davis, Professor of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine • conversation
Feb. 6, 2023 ~9 min

Reducing air travel by small amounts each year could level off the climate impact

Reducing jet fuel consumption by 2.5% each year could halt aviation’s growing influence on climate change.

Milan Klöwer, Postdoctoral Researcher in Weather and Climate Modelling, University of Oxford • conversation
Nov. 5, 2021 ~7 min

Why does it take longer to fly from east to west on an airplane?

When planes fly from east to west, they are flying against a river of air called a jet stream. These air currents can make your flight longer or shorter, depending on which way you are going.

Skip Bailey, Aviation Institute Flight Training Coordinator and Instructor, University of Nebraska Omaha • conversation
Jan. 25, 2021 ~5 min

How a 1940s treaty set airlines on a path to high emissions and low regulation

A precedent set at the industry's outset has dominated efforts to reform aviation.

Roger Tyers, Teaching Associate in Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham • conversation
Nov. 3, 2020 ~7 min

How the airline industry recovers from COVID-19 could determine who gets organ transplants

As policymakers weigh financial aid for the airline industry, they have an opportunity to help make the US organ transplantation system more equitable at the same time.

Ronghuo Zheng, Assistant Professor of Accounting, University of Texas at Austin • conversation
Sept. 28, 2020 ~7 min


Green bailouts: relying on carbon offsetting will let polluting airlines off the hook

Carbon offsetting is better regulated than it once was, but it's no solution to the climate crisis.

Ben Christopher Howard, Doctoral Researcher in Nature-based Solutions, University of Birmingham • conversation
May 27, 2020 ~6 min

Why airline bailouts are so unpopular with economists

Any bailout should include conditions that the airline reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Cameron Hepburn, Professor of Environmental Economics, University of Oxford • conversation
May 6, 2020 ~8 min

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