How can the tourism industry achieve net zero?

A report published in November last year by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme and Accenture, has highlighted some of the challenges facing the global tourism industry when it comes to decarbonisation.

• Tourism is a key contributor both to global GDP and global emissions
• There have been calls for a major reboot of the sector following Covid-19
• Airlines are now able to offset emissions in an international carbon exchange
• Air carrier organisations in both MENA and the EU have set net-zero targets

In 2019 the sector saw its 10th consecutive year of growth; with 1.47bn international tourist arrivals worldwide, it contributed more than 10% of global GDP and accounted for one in 10 jobs.

However, the industry was also responsible for some 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

For a range of countries – many of them developing…