Tourism stepping up climate action

Abstract

Along with employment and financial turnover, tourism has a substantial environmental footprint when added up across all aspects. Analysis of the tourism sector carbon footprint, published in 2018, showed it accounted for 8% of global emissions, with transport, shopping and food significant contributors (M. Lenzen et al. Nat. Clim. Change 8, 522–528, 2018). The study noted that the growth in global affluence was driving consumerism, and tourism is included in this growth, in fact growing at a faster rate than other areas of consumption. This growth of carbon-intensive travel was occurring faster than decarbonization. Confirming this, a recent study details that from 2009 to 2019 global tourism emissions grew at the rate of 3.5% per annum, double that of the worldwide economy (Y.-Y. Sun et al. Nat. Commun. 15, 10384; 2024).

Since 2019, the tourism industry was rocked by travel bans during the pandemic, with the industry only now returning to pre-pandemic levels. But it is important that as growth returns, it does so in a less carbon-intensive way and includes considering more than just the commonly acknowledged carbon-intensive aviation sector of tourism. This is already being seen as the world shifts to be more sustainability-focused, and the tourism industry already suffering the impacts of climate change with some classic destinations losing their appeal, for example, coastal areas at risk of extreme sea levels, as well as areas at risk of hydrological and temperature extremes.