The Jet Fuel Crisis: What’s next for aviation?

About this episode

The episode discusses the jet fuel crisis in aviation and its implications for the industry's dependence on fossil fuels.

Are flights across the world about to be grounded? Is a terrible war about to create an unlikely good news story for the climate? As conflict in the Middle East threatens the Strait of Hormuz, jet fuel shortages are forcing aviation to confront a structural vulnerability it has spent decades avoiding. This week, Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres and Paul Dickinson examine what the shortage reveals: aviation's near-total dependence on fossil fuels, the structural reasons it has proved so hard to break, and whether it’s ever going to be possible to fix.  They speak with Karel Bockstael and Roxanne van Rijn , former aviation insiders who co-founded Call Aviation to Action, a movement designed to reach the industry’s senior leaders and push for much-needed change. They explain why kerosene remains the only viable option for long-haul flight, how thin margins trap airlines into opposing the very regulation they need, and why this fuel shock may be the scarcity event that finally forces the model to shift.  Could this crisis become aviation’s turning point? And in a world where up to 80% of people have never set foot on a plane - and 1% account for half of all aviation…

People in this episode

Hosts: Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres, Paul Dickinson

Guests: Karel Bockstael, Roxanne van Rijn

Topics covered

• aviation
• jet fuel crisis
• climate change
• fossil fuels
• structural vulnerability
• industry transformation

Keywords

• jet fuel
• aviation emissions
• climate crisis
• fossil fuel dependence
• aviation transformation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Call Aviation to Action

More episodes of Outrage + Optimism

• Blocker or Blueprint? India on the World Stage · September 10, 2026 · 41 min
• What’s India Building?: Tales from the Biggest Transition on Earth · September 3, 2026 · 33 min
• India: Life Inside Delhi's 'Airpocalypse' · August 27, 2026 · 39 min
• The Clock is Ticking: Forty Seconds to Explain the Climate Crisis · August 20, 2026 · 34 min
• Beyond Politics: Should we take the heat out of the climate crisis? · August 13, 2026 · 46 min
• Cheapest Energy in History. Still Heading for 3 Degrees? · August 6, 2026 · 57 min