Can air travel be sustainable? Exploring the future of aviation and climate

Professor Stefan Gössling, Professor of Tourism, Linnaeus University

“Aviation is the elephant in the room… It’s incredibly difficult to decarbonize air transport.”

— Professor Stefan Gössling

Grounding expectations: rethinking tourism in a carbon-constrained world

In this interview, Professor Stefan Gössling, Professor of Tourism, Linnaeus University and a leading academic on tourism and climate change, lays out the stark realities of sustainable air travel and the future of global mobility.

While some technological solutions are emerging — such as sustainable aviation fuels made from used cooking oil — their scale, cost, and long-term viability remain uncertain. Hydrogen and electric aircraft also look unlikely to be viable on the scale and range we need. Meanwhile, synthetic fuels are promising but prohibitively expensive and energy-intensive to produce.

The real question, Gössling argues, isn’t just whether greener technologies can take off, but whether travelers will be willing to pay more for them. A sustainable aviation model may require ticket costs to double and demand to shift.

His solution? Target frequent flyers and rethink destination marketing strategies. By limiting long-haul travel and prioritizing closer markets, destinations can reduce emissions without compromising tourism’s economic value.

As Gössling puts it, “We can be sustainable. We just have to rethink tourism.” A different kind of tourism system is possible — but only if we start planning for it now.