This week world leaders are meeting for COP29 to discuss climate change and what the world needs to do next to stop temperatures rising beyond current targets.

Every industry and business has a part to play, and travel is no exception.

Tourism is a force for good, bringing cultural and wellbeing benefits to people and great value to economies around the world. However, as world travel has opened up over the past few decades, carbon emissions have increased, and tackling climate change is a pressing challenge.

So, decarbonisation in the travel and tourism sector must be accelerated. The industry has already started to make progress, by developing more sustainable fuels and introducing operational changes, such as more efficient planes and the use of onshore power in cruise.  Additionally, ABTA is a member of Sustainable Aviation, which has a clear roadmap showing how aviation can achieve Net Zero.

It’s important that we can show progress as the proportion of overall emissions which come from flying and cruise will in all probability increase as other sectors – which are easier to decarbonise – transition over the coming decade.

We know that reducing carbon in aviation and cruise is more difficult than in some other industries. That is why we need the right policy environment to stimulate the investment and innovation that will be necessary to reduce emissions at scale.

The wrong policy choice would be to attempt to reduce emissions through demand management, by unduly increasing the cost of flying – either through direct taxes or other levies – over the next few years. This would impact the wider economy but without driving people to use alternative forms of transport; in the UK, flying is the only practical way to reach many overseas destinations. The result would instead be to price many people out of travel and holidays altogether. These are points we’re making to governments.

As an industry, we need to be looking at how to decarbonise across the whole supply chain, not just in transport. Travel’s role in addressing climate change is varied, with supporting nature and biodiversity increasingly becoming part of businesses’ sustainability strategies.  

As ABTA’s Head of Sustainability, Carol Rose, writes in TTG this week, nature and biodiversity need to be supported and restored to continue their important roles on our planet and help tackle global warming. Given the prevalence and importance of nature in holidays, travel has a part to play in supporting this work.

If you want to understand more about travel and climate change, you can join us at our Carbon Literacy training day next week.

Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive