Tourism and climate change

By ABTA Sustainability team

Climate change is a global threat. All industries need to look at what they can do to tackle climate change, and the travel industry is no exception. 

Global tourism is a significant economic sector, supporting millions of jobs and responsible for 10.8% of the world’s GDP. However, it also accounts for roughly 8% of carbon emissions.

We are already seeing how climate change is affecting the destinations on which tourism depends, whether that’s through increased storms, floods, heat waves, wildfires, coral bleaching, water shortages, or even increased ‘sea snot’ and algae blooms. Coastal regions and small islands are especially under threat. 

With carbon emissions a significant contributor to climate change, the UK has legislated to reach net zero emissions by 2050, where any greenhouse gas emissions produced by the UK are balanced by the same amount being removed from the atmosphere. The UK has also committed to reduce emissions by 68% by 2030. 

Travel businesses can make changes in their operations and supply chains to reduce carbon emissions. 

Supporting nature and biodiversity

Tackling climate change is not just about decarbonisation, it’s also important to support nature. 

Climate change is driving biodiversity loss. In other words, it is putting pressure on nature and contributing to extinctions and other significant effects, for example the loss of ecosystem services such as water purification, soil fertility, carbon sequestration, and food production. Protecting and restoring biodiversity is therefore crucial to addressing climate change.

Nature-based solutions are about working with nature to conserve, manage and restore ecosystems, serving to mitigate and adapt to climate change, whilst also tackling the twin crisis of biodiversity collapse. 

Nature, whether a beach, the sea or a national park, is often a fundamental part of the appeal of travel and tourism. There is an opportunity for the tourism industry to champion nature-based solutions to climate change, by supporting or preserving nature and biodiversity. For example, Bermuda is home to several nature reserves, aimed at preserving the islands unique ecosystems. To help support this the Bermuda Tourism Authority set up the tourism experience programme that allocates funding to tourist initiatives that support nature, nature-based experiences, adventures and activities and cultural events. 

Decarbonisation

As we set out in Tourism for Good, our roadmap for sustainable travel and tourism, there is an urgent need to further decarbonise across all elements of travel and tourism and to demonstrate how the industry can be part of a zero-carbon world.

Measurement

Decarbonisation starts with understanding your carbon footprint. For travel businesses, that means identifying the emissions from within the business, such as any fuel or electricity use, or any release of coolant from air conditioners.  Increasingly businesses are also identifying emissions in their supply chain that they can measure and reduce, as well as those they are directly responsible for. There are a number of freely available tools, most of which are based on figures from Defra.

Reduction

Once the footprint has been identified, businesses are then able to set reduction targets and work towards meeting them. 

Intrepid Travel, for example, has joined more than a thousand other companies from different sectors to set a science-based emission reduction target, committing to cut absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 71 per cent by 2035 from a 2018 baseline. Recognising the challenge of decarbonising while growing, Intrepid also aims to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 56 per cent per passenger day on trips by 2030, and also to reduce Scope 3 emissions in its offices by 34 per cent per full time equivalent employee. To meet these goals, the company has introduced rigorous carbon measurement at trip level, is transitioning its global offices to renewable energy, where possible shifting from short-haul flights to lower carbon transport, and working closely with suppliers to reduce emissions across its value chain.

This is the pace and scale that science says is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Similarly, Exodus Travels has committed to science-based targets, aiming to almost halve its emissions from its offices and halve its carbon footprint per passenger by 2030.  

Action to decarbonise

Real reductions in emissions are happening right now, across the industry. 

Transportation – flights, sailings, car travel etc – are a large part of the industry’s emissions, and ABTA is working with Sustainable Aviation, an alliance of UK airlines, airports, manufacturers and air navigation service providers, on the transition to a low carbon aviation industry.

More information on what is happening in the aviation and cruise sectors can be found in our specific blog on decarbonisation. 

It is also important to look at all the ways travel businesses emit carbon - everything from hotel operations to retail stores, office premises to excursions.

For many ABTA Members, these can be the areas where they can have the greatest influence. 

ABTA runs Travelife for Accommodation, the sustainability certification scheme, promoting sustainability in close to a thousand hotels around the world. For example in Croatia, Travelife for Accommodation certified hotel group, Valamar Riviera, reduced its carbon emissions per overnight stay by more than 70% between 2015 and 2016, and has continued to achieve further reductions. Initiatives include all electrical energy from renewables, replacement of heating oil boilers with heat pumps and investment in electric vehicles, scooters and carts. 

Travel companies and hotels are looking at how to reduce emissions from food, whether by reducing food waste, using local produce or promoting more vegetarian and vegan options, which typically have a lower carbon footprint. For example, DERTour Hotels and Resorts’ affiliate Iti Asterias Beach Resort in Rhodes achieved an 25 % reduction in food waste through initiatives such as a pre-order system for the á-la-carte restaurant, live cooking to complement buffets and educating guests about having a more conscious approach towards food. easyJet holidays successfully piloted an innovative food waste initiative at the Bahia Principe Sunlight Costa Adeje resort in Tenerife, achieving a 68 per cent decrease in buffet waste over 12 months. This equates to 32 tonnes of food saved and a reduction of 139 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Some travel companies are exploring carbon removal and nature-based solutions. For example, The Travel Corporation, through its TreadRight Foundation, invests in new technologies and nature-based solutions to remove carbon dioxide from the environment, such as adding kelp to soil or spreading volcanic minerals on beaches to increase the ocean’s ability to capture more carbon dioxide.

There is an established carbon hierarchy that prioritises reduction and removal of emissions ahead of offsetting, and we believe reduction and removal should be the focus for travel businesses. Where businesses choose to offset unavoidable emissions, those offsets must have strong environmental integrity and represent verifiable, real, additional, and permanent emission reductions. 

As well as working to reduce the carbon emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, businesses also need plan for and adapt to future climate stresses. 

ABTA is working with our members, their suppliers, destination authorities, travellers, the wider industry, and the UK government to support this urgent need for decarbonisation in the industry.

ABTA provides guidance and information, including our Climate Action Guidebook, Tourism for Good report and the Travelife for accommodation certification scheme, with additional resources for members on the Member Zone.