How does one take meaningful action to back up a potentially hypocritical declaration about climate? This is a question that travel & tourism companies must contend with right now, particularly those that rely on air travel for their products and customers. Tourism scholar Francesca Gallone suggests three steps that companies can take to walk their talk and encourage others.
It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight.
When it comes to decarbonising the travel industry, many companies within the sector look to the airlines to make the significant changes needed. This is unsurprising given that aviation releases more CO2 per passenger than any other mode of transport.
However, the time for waiting for change has been and gone; as has the gesture by travel companies of bolting on eco-projects to gain an ‘easy win’. Fundamental changes need to be made and they need to come from travel companies themselves.
It is estimated that by 2050, aviation will account for 22% of all global CO2 emissions.
For many years, governments and airlines have been using carbon offsetting programmes as the catch-all solution to reduce this figure; with the ICAO establishing an industry-wide scheme in 2016 that requires airlines to cancel out excess emissions that exceed the 2020 benchmark set.
However, the unprecedented decline in international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic has created a need for this benchmark to be reassessed, as it no longer reflects the targets agreed by governments in ICAO. As such, it is now recommended that 2019 emissions are used as a baseline instead.
In any case, offsetting initiatives have been heavily contested, with environmentalists arguing that they do not address the real issue of removing CO2 from the atmosphere; that they shift the responsibly elsewhere. And there are questions over the ethics of many offsetting schemes, which have been found to displace communities, damage biodiversity, and destroy livelihoods.
Not all travellers have their eyes shut when it comes to understanding how their holidays might negatively impact the environment ... To continue reading this “GT” Insight, in full and for free, visit https://goodtourismblog.com/2021/10/three-steps-travel-companies-can-take-to-contend-with-climate-change/
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