20 DOWN 30 to go

Posted on 11/11/2015

In the past ten years the world’s largest tourism companies have improved their carbon efficiency by 20 percent and are on target to reach 25 percent reduction by 2020. At this rate, by the year 2035 CO2 emissions will be cut by 50 percent. That is enough to make other industries green with envy.

A report published by the World Travel & Tourism Council called ‘Travel & Tourism 2015; Connecting Global Climate Action outlines the preparedness of the sector for climate change alleviation measures.

The report, which released this week identifies the increased carbon efficiency by airlines, airports, hotels, cruise lines, car rental companies and technology companies since 2005.

WTTC president and chief executive, David Scowsill, said, “In 2015, travel and tourism is forecast to contribute almost 10 percent of world GDP and one in 11 of all jobs on the planet. The strength of the sector is due to continue for the next decade at almost 4 percent per annum.

With such robust growth, travel and tourism’s relationship to climate change becomes critical.

“While the sector has grown, added more jobs and contributed billions of dollars to economies all over the world, we have seen real commitment to sustainability from business as companies innovate and collaborate with others to reduce their overall impacts.

The report identifies progress in the following areas:

1.    Accountability and Responsibility. The sector has made strong progress in admitting to the challenge of tackling climate change and setting out plans to address and measure it. Various methodologies for calculating and measuring carbon usage have been developed and more and more companies are engaging with global frameworks for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting such as GRI and CDP.

2.    Local community sustainable growth and capacity building. WTTC members actively demonstrate on-the-ground action in the form of community engagement, charitable contributions, disaster relief, or conservation efforts. Several WTTC Member programmes address deforestation in particular, while others focus on wider biodiversity protection such as preserving coral reefs, hosting bee colonies on rooftops, managing waste, or ensuring sustainable sourcing.

3.    Educating customers and stakeholders. Most Travel & Tourism companies now have branded sustainability programs, and these often include customer engagement programs

4.    Greening supply chains. Most WTTC members now have formidable supplier screening and supply chain engagement programs and have developed practical tools to help procurement from local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as part of this.

5.    Innovation, capital investment and infrastructure. Similar to ESG reporting being the primary step towards accountability and responsibility now, so were the use of operational environmental management systems and green certification schemes our focus in 2009. Most WTTC Member companies have achieved green certification of some type.

The report also outlines the five priority areas to support the overall target of halving emissions by 2035:

1.    Integrating Climate Change and related issues into Business Strategy by disclosing climate change issues in mainstream financial reporting, utilising recognised frameworks and collaborating to harmonise the approach for disclosure within our industries. Commitments will stem from securing leadership from board governance and senior executives.

2.    Supporting the Global Transition to a Low Carbon Economy by joining in the leading practice of establishing an internal price of carbon, focusing on renewables for new investments, seeking low carbon financing mechanisms, contributing to local economies with carbon mitigation, and catalysing the economies of scale to create a virtuous circle.

3.    Strengthening Local Resilience by recognising the value that local natural and cultural heritage has for Travel & Tourism, enhancing the assessment of our operations and forging partnerships to build resilience against climate risks, reducing local drivers of climate change.

4.    Promoting the Value of Responsible Travel by giving travellers the tools to be responsible travellers, encouraging participation in our initiatives, and offering new experiences tied directly to low carbon solutions. We will extend these tools to our business travellers who play an integral role in increasing ESG information from Travel & Tourism companies.

5.    Engaging Across the Value Chain by focussing efforts on the biggest opportunities found across the entire value chain to reduce carbon emissions through mechanisms such as supplier screening and local procurement.

Furthermore, Travel & Tourism is in a unique position to build consumer awareness of the world’s key supply chain threats by engaging travellers to link the destinations they visit with the issues back home in their own purchasing decisions as consumers and professionals.