Do you know that the global tourism-related emissions of CO2 contributed around 5% of total global emission on 2005 and they are growing rapidly every year? It is estimated that the global temperature will rise between 1.8 degrees and 4.0 degrees by the end of this century. The change in climate is very likely the result of human activities, especially the emission of greenhouse gas. Countries have noticed the significance of reducing the GHG and are trying to work together to solve this global issue. The tourism sector should also reduce the emissions on its part. In the article, Can tourism deliver its “aspirational” greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, the author Daniel Scott, Paul Peeters, and Stefan Gossling, discussed how the global tourism sector is going to contribute to the GHG reduction and the challenges that they are facing. A number of national and supranational tourism organizations, such as the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) have proposed “aspriational” emission reduction goals for the tourism industry. However, the authors argue that none of these organizations have a practical strategies that could really lead to a substantial decrease in the greenhouse gas emission from tourism activities.
The article begins by examining the change in climate and the impact of tourism to this change. The authors first use the data from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which estimated that the global mean temperature has increased about 0.76 degrees in the past 100 years, and it will rise by between 1.8 degrees to 4.0 degrees in the next 100 years. Various international organizations made substantial goals to reduce the GHG. For example, the IPCC suggests that the CO2 emission should decline 50% to 85% by 2050. As noted by the author, the tourism industry is a great contributor to the CO2 emission. If we view tourism as a country, it would rank fifth in terms of the CO2 emission. Therefore, tourism has great influence in the climate change and it should make its contribution to reduce the greenhouse gas emission.
Indeed, the tourism sector has realized their responsibilitiies and several International tourism organizations have proposed ambitious goals to reduce GHG emissions caused by tourism related activities. For example, the WTTC aims at a 25% to 35% decrease by 2020 and a 50% decrease by 2035. However, large gap exists between the reality and these ambitious goals. In currently situation, the tourism-relative CO2 emission is very likely to grow in the future. The reason is that more people are traveling and each traveller is consuming more energy in each trip. The authors cite the data from UNWTO, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (UNWTO-UNEP-WMO), which states that if the tourism sector continues to do business like this, it would become a significant source of GHG emission if other sectors achieve their reduction goals. Specifically, by 2050 to 2060, tourism sector emission would exceed the emission budget for the whole global economy.
However, the tourism industry will face great challenges to achieve the GHG emissions goals. The article then examines the ways to reduce the GHG emissions in the tourism industry. Currently, the transport of travellers contribute to 75% of the GHG emissions in the tourism sector. The aviation alone contributes to 40 percent, and its share is very likely to increase in the future. Therefore, a structure to solve the aviation emission problem would be a key issue to protect the environment. The authors examine 70 scenarios for the emission reduction, and they find that social changes in traveling ways together with the changes to more efficient energy would be the best strategy to achieve absolute reduction in emissions. However, there is great challenge in using more clean energy such as biofuels as a replacement to existing fuels. Not to mention that biofuels alone could not be the aviation energy, it would need an area of 1 million km2 to grow the materials if replace all the conventional fuels as the new biofules. Such large space is of course impossible to get. Thus, the author concludes that those ambitious goals for emissions reduction in the tourism sectors is mostly unlikely to achieve before 2020 to 2035.
In order to protect the environment, different nations and industries need to work together to reduce the GHG emissions. The tourism should also make its contribution. But as the article shows, the aspirational goals that the tourism organizations set would be almost impossible to achieve.
“Can tourism deliver its “aspirational” greenhouse gas emission reduction targets”, Scott Daniel, Peeters Paul, Gossling Stefan (2010). Article: Journal of Sustainable Tourism, April 2010.
The article begins by examining the change in climate and the impact of tourism to this change. The authors first use the data from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which estimated that the global mean temperature has increased about 0.76 degrees in the past 100 years, and it will rise by between 1.8 degrees to 4.0 degrees in the next 100 years. Various international organizations made substantial goals to reduce the GHG. For example, the IPCC suggests that the CO2 emission should decline 50% to 85% by 2050. As noted by the author, the tourism industry is a great contributor to the CO2 emission. If we view tourism as a country, it would rank fifth in terms of the CO2 emission. Therefore, tourism has great influence in the climate change and it should make its contribution to reduce the greenhouse gas emission.
Indeed, the tourism sector has realized their responsibilitiies and several International tourism organizations have proposed ambitious goals to reduce GHG emissions caused by tourism related activities. For example, the WTTC aims at a 25% to 35% decrease by 2020 and a 50% decrease by 2035. However, large gap exists between the reality and these ambitious goals. In currently situation, the tourism-relative CO2 emission is very likely to grow in the future. The reason is that more people are traveling and each traveller is consuming more energy in each trip. The authors cite the data from UNWTO, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (UNWTO-UNEP-WMO), which states that if the tourism sector continues to do business like this, it would become a significant source of GHG emission if other sectors achieve their reduction goals. Specifically, by 2050 to 2060, tourism sector emission would exceed the emission budget for the whole global economy.
However, the tourism industry will face great challenges to achieve the GHG emissions goals. The article then examines the ways to reduce the GHG emissions in the tourism industry. Currently, the transport of travellers contribute to 75% of the GHG emissions in the tourism sector. The aviation alone contributes to 40 percent, and its share is very likely to increase in the future. Therefore, a structure to solve the aviation emission problem would be a key issue to protect the environment. The authors examine 70 scenarios for the emission reduction, and they find that social changes in traveling ways together with the changes to more efficient energy would be the best strategy to achieve absolute reduction in emissions. However, there is great challenge in using more clean energy such as biofuels as a replacement to existing fuels. Not to mention that biofuels alone could not be the aviation energy, it would need an area of 1 million km2 to grow the materials if replace all the conventional fuels as the new biofules. Such large space is of course impossible to get. Thus, the author concludes that those ambitious goals for emissions reduction in the tourism sectors is mostly unlikely to achieve before 2020 to 2035.
In order to protect the environment, different nations and industries need to work together to reduce the GHG emissions. The tourism should also make its contribution. But as the article shows, the aspirational goals that the tourism organizations set would be almost impossible to achieve.
“Can tourism deliver its “aspirational” greenhouse gas emission reduction targets”, Scott Daniel, Peeters Paul, Gossling Stefan (2010). Article: Journal of Sustainable Tourism, April 2010.
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