Aviation's sustainability journey – the decarbonisation clock is ticking louder

The year 2026 is set to be a record-breaking year for aviation. Even with the recent Middle East crisis and the operational and fuel supply disruption accompanying it, airlines are on track to break new records around passengers and aircraft kilometres flown.

Unavoidably, this also means record levels of fuel burn and greenhouse gas emissions.

The year 2026 could also be a record-breaking year for the planet. According to data from NASA, 1H2026 was the third warmest start to a year in the 177-year temperature record. Only 2024 and 2025 saw higher average surface temperatures.

Early 2H2026 has seen surface temperatures equal or break temperature records, while average ocean temperatures breached the benchmark of 1.0°C above the pre-industrial average for the first time.

These are developments that climate scientists and global bodies have been issuing dire warnings about for decades and global climate compacts were formed to avoid.

The UN warned in Aug-2026 that it is now likely global temperatures will pass 1.5°C of warming compared to the pre-industrial era, and that this threshold could be passed within the next few years.

Even best-case scenarios have warming peaking somewhere between 1.8°C and 2.0°C, with the UN warning that every fraction of a degree above 1.5°C brings with it the possibility of crossing irreversible climate thresholds and risks of "severe damage to human health, food security, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure, and economies".

Clearly, things are approaching crisis point.