The aviation sector risks a late take-off in meeting the climate schedule. As one of the hard-to-abate sectors facing systemic challenges, it risks delaying its rapid and fundamental transition to a more sustainable future. The transition from fossil-based kerosene to sustainable energy carriers, from incremental efficiency improvements to radical innovation, and from carbon to broader climate impacts presents a range of complex and contested challenges that continue to slow the pace of transformative action.
Emerging innovative solutions chart a promising flight path toward Paris targets. Addressing such systemic challenges necessitates active mobilisation and well-coordinated deployment of technical, societal, and operational solutions across emerging transition pathways. Whilst airlines, aircraft manufacturers, airports, fuel suppliers, and other stakeholders across the wider aviation ecosystem are starting to respond to the climate emergency, progress to date has been limited. This underscores the urgent need for timely policy actions to accelerate change across the sector.
Applications in practice
- Social and political change
- Future risk and opportunity
Business strategies and models
Contribution to CISL’s core research themes
- Zero carbon
- Circular economy
- Inclusive and resilient societies
About the project
Manoeuvring through the present turbulent skies calls for cautious policy design. The diverse nature of emerging sustainable aviation solutions presents practical challenges for policymakers, as the timescales, applicable domains, and target populations of these solutions differ considerably. In this context, a pressing question arises: How can actionable policy levers be prioritised, sequenced, and/or strategically integrated to deliver quick wins within the near-term opportunities available through 2030?
This Fellowship aims to develop a time-sensitive approach for identifying and prioritising key actionable policy levers that can accelerate progress in sustainable aviation transitions by 2030, and to feed these insights into ongoing policy debates to catalyse cascading transformative change towards a net-zero aviation future.
Impact and relevance
This project will be delivered in close collaboration with the Aviation Impact Accelerator and the convening network of aviation stakeholders at CISL and the Whittle Laboratory to identify key actionable policy touchpoints. It will translate evidence-based insights into impactful policy recommendations, drawing on analytics, design, and advocacy to inform ongoing debates on accelerating ambition across the aviation sector in the UK and globally. This Fellowship will focus particularly on the short-term window of transformative actions available up to 2030.
Work Packages
In pursuit of the research aim and to maximise its impact, this project is structured around four objectives, each delivered through a dedicated work package (WP):
1. WP1 – Longlisting: Map and identify existing and possible sustainable aviation policy levers in emerging transition pathways.
This work package aims to conduct a comprehensive stocktake of existing and potential policy levers relevant to emerging aviation transition pathways. The pathways will focus on the system goals informed by previous work from the Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA) initiatives (e.g. the 2030 Sustainable Aviation Goals Report, transatlantic workshops, contrail, and SAF projects).
2. WP2 – Shortlisting: Prioritise and screen longlisted policy levers by assessing their time-sensitive potential for accelerating system change.
Building on the longlisted sustainable aviation policy levers mapped in WP1, this work package develops a multi-dimensional analytical framework – including technology, actors, institutions, finance, and planetary impact – to assess the time-sensitive potential of each policy lever. The framework is then applied to shortlist high-priority levers.
3. WP3 – Bridging: Translate and package shortlisted policy levers into actionable policy proposals within the near-term windows of opportunity.
Building on the findings from WP1 and WP2, this work package focuses on translating shortlisted high-priority sustainable aviation policy levers into actionable policy proposals capable of delivering tangible, near-term impacts. By zooming in on one to two specific case areas, WP3 aims to bridge the gap between strategic ambition and implementable interventions.
4. WP4 – Engagement: Disseminate and advocate research findings and policy recommendations among sustainable aviation stakeholders.
WP4 builds upon and amplifies the findings from the preceding work packages to maximise their visibility, uptake, and policy relevance. This work package ensures that insights and outputs generated through WP1–WP3 are effectively communicated to key stakeholders, supporting evidence-based decision-making and promoting coordinated action across the aviation sector. This work will also be undertaken throughout the Fellowship as well as having a particular focus on amplifying the final recommendations.
Outputs
The findings of this research will be shared through publicly accessible outputs, including blogs, op-eds, policy briefs, and working papers. To ensure broad engagement and visibility, key insights will also be disseminated via lectures, invited talks, and workshops. WP4 specifically supports this multi-channel strategy, focusing on maximizing uptake and relevance among sustainable aviation stakeholders, promoting evidence-based decision-making, and fostering coordinated action across the sector. Academic visibility will be enhanced through coordination of a high-profile journal special issue, while public and policy audiences will benefit from targeted communications and interactive engagement activities.
- Song, Q. (2025). Delineating the skyscape: Mapping sustainable aviation policy levers for climate risk. Cambridge Journal of Climate Research, 2(2), 36–51. https://diamond-oa.lib.cam.ac.uk/handle/1812/502
Collaborators and funding
This work is supported by a philanthropic donation from Heathrow Airport.
