Experts release key recommendations to address climate cost of tourism

The first Tourism and Climate Change Stocktake report has been released by the Tourism Panel on Climate Change (TPCC) timed with the UN COP-28 Climate Conference. Its 24 key findings aim to support policymakers and the tourism industry in accelerating planning and investment toward low-carbon and climate-resilient global tourism.

University of Waterloo climate change and sustainable tourism expert Professor Daniel Scott was the co-lead, along with Professor Susanne Becken of Griffith University in Australia. The TPCC is a network of over 60 leading international tourism and climate experts from over 30 countries.

“In 2023, the world witnessed an extraordinary succession of climate records so that we no longer need to imagine the impacts of climate change on travel and tourism,” Scott said. “Few tourism authorities have focused on the potentially massive impacts of climate hazards and the paradigm shift that will be required in the transition to climate-resilient tourism development.”

The Stocktake report is significant because it is the first of its kind to assess the progress and gaps in the state of tourism climate action worldwide.

“The key findings indicate the entire tourism sector needs to go further and faster to rapidly reduce tourism emissions and accelerate climate resilient tourism development,” Becken said. “The many signs of progress, good practice, and innovation we identified need to be rapidly scaled for tourism to get back on track for its 2030 and 2050 climate targets.”

A worldwide course change is required across travel and tourism. “Tourism is omitted from national climate change policy in many countries where tourism represents a high proportion of the economy. Tourism can be an important force for climate action to protect destinations and livelihoods that depend on the tourism economy,” said Scott.

“The future of global tourism remains ours to decide. Transformational change in governance, policy and finance alignment, and travel choices are the collective responsibility of the global tourism community. There can be no sustainable tourism if we fail on climate.”
 

Some of the key findings include:

• Tourism is growing faster than the global economy, trending toward longer distances and, therefore, higher emission-intensive travel.
   
• Eight to 10 per cent of global emissions are from tourism, with emissions concentrated mainly in high-income countries acting both as traveller residences and destinations.
   
• Tourism, air travel, and cruise tourism will fall short of their 2030 emission reduction goals.
   
• The greenhouse gas emission intensity of hotel operations is gradually improving in some regional markets, but without acceleration and global expansion will fall short of their 2030 emission reduction target.
   
• Current forms of tourism, such as ski tourism at low elevations, beach tourism in highly erodible coastlines, and some nature-based tourism will not be viable at some destinations because of accelerating climate hazards and limits to adaptation measures.
   
• Tourism policy is not yet integrated with global or national climate change frameworks despite an increase in sectoral climate pledges. Most national tourism policies or plans give limited consideration to climate change.

The report goes on to share that governments and international development assistance continue to invest in tourism infrastructure that is climate-vulnerable and linked to high GHG emission intensity, while training in industry and tourism education programs remains very limited.
 

Contributing authors from the University of Waterloo also included Associate Professor Michelle Rutty.

The Tourism and Climate Change Stocktake was released on Monday, 11 December and is available at www.tpcc.info.