This paper examines the extent to which sustainable tourism research addresses climate change mitigation. Despite the growing awareness of climate change as a global environmental crisis, only 6.5% of 2573 journal articles on sustainable tourism covered climate change mitigation. A critical content analysis of 35 influential papers revealed that current methods, scope, and traditions in tourism research hinder effective and in-depth research into climate change. Transport, the primary contributor to tourism emissions, was often overlooked, and weak definitions of sustainability were common. The study highlights the need for a more holistic approach to tourism research, including transport and domestic tourism, to effectively address climate change. The findings suggest that sustainable tourism research is ill-equipped to tackle climate change mitigation due to a lack of adequate definitions, data, and methods. The authors call for a stronger emphasis on "strong sustainability" in tourism research to align with global efforts to mitigate climate change.This paper examines the extent to which sustainable tourism research addresses climate change mitigation. Despite the growing awareness of climate change as a global environmental crisis, only 6.5% of 2573 journal articles on sustainable tourism covered climate change mitigation. A critical content analysis of 35 influential papers revealed that current methods, scope, and traditions in tourism research hinder effective and in-depth research into climate change. Transport, the primary contributor to tourism emissions, was often overlooked, and weak definitions of sustainability were common. The study highlights the need for a more holistic approach to tourism research, including transport and domestic tourism, to effectively address climate change. The findings suggest that sustainable tourism research is ill-equipped to tackle climate change mitigation due to a lack of adequate definitions, data, and methods. The authors call for a stronger emphasis on "strong sustainability" in tourism research to align with global efforts to mitigate climate change.