Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Aviation decarbonization roadmaps predominantly rely on replacing fossil kerosene with alternative jet fuels, yet the systemic impact of these alternatives on planetary boundaries other than climate change has not been quantified. Here we integrate prospective life-cycle inventories with the planetary boundaries framework to evaluate the absolute impacts of aviation roadmaps as time-dependent trajectories, rather than endpoint snapshots. Across scenarios to 2050, we find that fuel-switch-centered roadmaps do not achieve sustainability, persistently transgress the climate change and biosphere integrity core boundaries, and exert large demands for energy, land, freshwater and CO 2 capture that challenge their feasibility. Slower traffic growth brings aviation closer to its share of the safe operating space in terms of lowering energy demand, but respecting additional planetary boundaries requires air traffic to decline by at least 7.2% yr −1 . Our results show that aligning aviation with Earth’s safe operating space cannot be achieved through fuel substitution alone and requires governance strategies that combine supply-side solutions with explicit demand-side measures.
Source: Nature Communications
Institutions: École Nationale de l’Aviation Civile, Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO), Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales, Agence de la transition écologique, Université de Toulouse, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, National Higher French Institute of Aeronautics and Space
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
OpenAlex ID: W7221666465