When planes can’t go green, hotels must

With aviation’s carbon footprint climbing, hotels are becoming the new frontline for visible climate action across the travel industry

Despite ambitious net-zero pledges, the aviation industry is expanding faster than it is decarbonising. With sustainable aviation fuels still scarce, carbon trading under scrutiny, and global cooperation faltering, both politicians and passengers are largely abandoning efforts to make flying greener.

Key takeaways

• Airport expansion outpaces climate targets: Governments in the UK and across Europe are approving new runways and airport projects, prioritising economic growth despite aviation’s rising share of national emissions.
• Technological solutions lag decades behind: Hydrogen-powered planes remain distant, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is costly, limited in supply, and far from meeting the scale regulators demand.
• Offset schemes face credibility issues: The ICAO-backed Corsia system relies heavily on questionable carbon credits — such as those tied to Guyana’s deforestation projects — undermining confidence in aviation’s offsetting claims.
• Global taxation efforts have collapsed: Political resistance, led by the U.S. under Donald Trump, has derailed EU ambitions to impose carbon taxes on long-haul flights, leaving aviation fuel largely untaxed worldwide.
• Airlines push for “growth with guilt”: Carriers argue that flying brings economic and social value, yet current measures allow emissions to rise through traffic growth even as cleaner fuels are introduced.
• New ideas shift focus to behavior and flight paths: Researchers are testing AI-assisted contrail avoidance to cut warming, while governments consider levies on frequent flyers and private jets to target aviation’s biggest polluters.
• Climate justice concerns grow: Activists warn that without structural change, aviation will remain a symbol of inequality — where a small share of frequent travelers drives most emissions while others bear the climate cost.
• Hotels face new sustainability scrutiny: As aviation’s footprint grows, more pressure may fall on hotels to demonstrate measurable environmental responsibility, from energy use to supply chains, to offset the sector’s wider carbon imbalance.

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