This paper presents a problematising review of sustainable tourism research, highlighting the limited focus on climate change mitigation. Among 2573 articles on sustainable tourism, only 6.5% addressed climate change mitigation. The review found that current tourism research methods, scope, and traditions hinder effective analysis of tourism's climate impact. Key issues include the lack of attention to transport, weak sustainability definitions, and narrow system boundaries. Transport, especially air travel, is a major contributor to tourism emissions but is often overlooked. The study also notes that many sustainable tourism papers focus on non-climate impacts but ignore climate change consequences. The research framework evaluated 35 influential articles, identifying deficiencies in definitions, scope, and methodology. The findings suggest that sustainable tourism research is inadequate for assessing and mitigating tourism's climate impact. The study emphasizes the need for broader geographical and systemic scope, stronger sustainability definitions, and integration of transport and domestic tourism. It calls for a shift towards 'strong sustainability' that respects environmental limits. The paper concludes that sustainable tourism research is not adequately addressing climate change mitigation, and that a more holistic approach is needed to align with global climate goals.This paper presents a problematising review of sustainable tourism research, highlighting the limited focus on climate change mitigation. Among 2573 articles on sustainable tourism, only 6.5% addressed climate change mitigation. The review found that current tourism research methods, scope, and traditions hinder effective analysis of tourism's climate impact. Key issues include the lack of attention to transport, weak sustainability definitions, and narrow system boundaries. Transport, especially air travel, is a major contributor to tourism emissions but is often overlooked. The study also notes that many sustainable tourism papers focus on non-climate impacts but ignore climate change consequences. The research framework evaluated 35 influential articles, identifying deficiencies in definitions, scope, and methodology. The findings suggest that sustainable tourism research is inadequate for assessing and mitigating tourism's climate impact. The study emphasizes the need for broader geographical and systemic scope, stronger sustainability definitions, and integration of transport and domestic tourism. It calls for a shift towards 'strong sustainability' that respects environmental limits. The paper concludes that sustainable tourism research is not adequately addressing climate change mitigation, and that a more holistic approach is needed to align with global climate goals.