Beyond the rhetoric of ‘sustainable aviation’: a counterfactual confrontation

Journal article

Amid evidence of rising emissions, the aviation industry continues to promote demand growth while offering long-term sustainability reassurances communicated as ‘facts’. Using counterfactual analysis, this paper examines how industry rhetoric constructs and defends these discursive strategies. Drawing on a content analysis of 211 sources - including airline websites, industry reports, and manufacturer statements – the study identifies seven discursive strategies. The findings reveal a novel theoretical mechanism, ‘future soothing’: projecting technological salvation into a perpetually deferred future to ease public concern and postpone regulation. By transforming delay into the illusion of progress, discourses operate as rhetorical governance, sustaining growth under the guise of climate responsibility. The paper contributes to scholarship on the temporal politics of sustainability, showing how appeals to the future enable inaction in the present and illustrating how rhetoric, temporality, and power intertwine in shaping societal responses to climate change. Breaking aviation's ‘cycle of blame’ requires policymaker action.

Authors: Gössling, S; Hopkins, D; Schweiggart, N; Cohen, S; Cocolas, N

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: Journal of Travel Research
• Publication date: 2026-01-22
• Acceptance date: 2025-12-13
• DOI: 10.1177/00472875251411867
• EISSN: 1552-6763
• ISSN: 0047-2875
• Language: English
• Keywords: climate change; sustainable aviation; future soothing; sustainability communication; industry rhetoric; counterfactual thinking