University of Otago professor of sustainable tourism James Higham brought the academic group together last year.
He and his peers sent a letter to Mr Cadogan, other business leaders and local and central Government politicians on Tuesday, outlining reasons why the project should be abandoned.
"No-one wants to prejudice the process" but it was important for such a nationally significant piece of infrastructure that people were well-informed about what was best for New Zealand, he said.
"At the moment there seems to be complete silence [about new airport building] on a national and global level," Prof Higham said.
Other recipients of the letter included the Christchurch City Council, the Otago Regional Council and CIAL.
"At this stage CODC is the organisation that a resource consent application will come to and in those circumstances, I do not believe it appropriate for me to comment for or against something that the organisation I lead may need to make a decision on in the future," he said.
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger could not comment as he was in meetings.
Mr Cadogan would not say whether he supported any alternative airport options and
also declined to discuss whether the Minister for the Environment or the Environment Court should make the resource consent decision instead of the CODC.
Asked if he thought the academic group had provided enough evidence for CIAL to abandon the project, Mr Cadogan said "the question is academic as CIAL is permitted at law to make application to proceed with its proposal".
Associate Minister of Transport Kieran McAnulty said the legal process would require public consultation as well as approval from the Ministry for the Environment and Civil Aviation Authority.
Prof Higham said available research and data showed the world was on a "very, very tight timeframe" to cut carbon emissions.
Building a new airport at Tarras ran contrary to that, Prof Higham said.
CIAL Central Otago airport project director Michael Singleton confirmed his team had "read the letter with interest" and welcomed the perspectives.
The project was in its early stages and any call to stop it before benefits and impacts could be properly assessed was premature, he said.
Mr Singleton said his team believed a new airport could fit within New Zealand’s emissions targets and meet climate change challenges.
The 11 academics, drawn from Otago, Canterbury, Lincoln, Victoria, Massey and Auckland Universities, have expertise in business, economics, climate science, sustainability, Maori and indigenous studies, tourism, the environment and agriculture.
