The Coronavirus pandemic has caused havoc all over the world, but most people seem to agree that one of the most effected business sectors is the travel and tourism industry.  Airlines are hardly flying passengers, cruises lines have stopped operating, hotels and restaurants are closed, large scale events are postponed indefinitely.  At the same time, domestic tourism has blossomed, campsites and outdoor facilities are busy, take-away food outlets can hardly cope with demand.  It is a strange, new world order and no-one seems to have an idea of the future developments.

My favorite coffee shop in Victoria, Gozo is closed due to COVID19 regulations

One thing is certain – the next major crisis for the tourism industry is the increasing effects of climate change: more droughts and forest fires in countries that are already hot; more floods and infrastructure damage in low-lying countries with extensive river networks; more frequent and more severe typhoons and hurricanes; over-stretched energy systems in urban areas during periods of extensive cold or heat, and so on.

Once the planes start flying again, and travelers can cross borders with vaccination certificates, the tourism industry will re-bound, and travel and tourism companies and communities should consider climate change even in their current difficult COVID19 recovery period.  That is not easy, but there are good reasons to do so, as I will describe later.

Slot Loevestein, Netherlands in flood

First, let me explain how I got involved in the discussions about tourism and climate change.  I met Prof Geoffrey Lipman for the first time during the 80th anniversary celebrations for Maurice Strong, that I helped to organise in 2009 when I was Director of Strategic Partnerships at IUCN Headquarters in Switzerland.   Maurice is often called the “father of sustainable development”, as he was instrumental in all the main global events that promoted sustainable development from the Stockholm Conference in 1972 till Rio+20 in 2012.

Geoffrey and Maurice coined the term Climate Friendly Travel (CFT), which is tourism that has a low carbon footprint, that is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals and that will not cause global warming in excess of 1.5 degree warming by 2050.  It is tourism that fits in the United Nations 2030 development agenda, and that follows the conditions of the Paris Climate Accord.

In 2019, the Government of Malta, through the Malta Tourism Authority, agreed to support the CFT concept, and SUNx Malta was created as a non-for-profit European organisation.  Geoffrey asked me to become part of the initiative as I live on the island of Gozo in Malta.

Signing agreement with Malta tourism Authority

The CFT programme includes:

  • An annual think tank and an annual progress report to describe the state of sustainability affairs of the travel and tourism industry, especially the climate action ambitions. The first and the last face-to-face meeting of the think tank took place in Malta in early 2020, just before the travel restrictions were imposed.
  • A Diploma course in Climate Friendly Travel, which is run together with the Institute of Tourism Studies in Malta. The 2020/2021 course is virtual, and I am pleased to say that earlier this year I gave a lecture on nature and nature based solutions for tourism.
  • An annual youth summit to highlight progress, and enforce the urgency of the matter. I will be speaking at the 2021 Summit, which is a virtual three-day event.
  • And, a Registry of CFT ambitions of travel and tourism companies and communities, large and small. I am the Registrar of the CFT Registry.

Think tank meeting in Malta in early 2020

The Paris Agreement established mechanisms for countries, local authorities and industry partners to determine their carbon emissions now and project their emissions in the future, and to record these figures on a transparent global platform, the Global Climate Action Platform.  These are called the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), and they are supposed to be a combination of the ambitions of the Government and its key players.  The Travel and Tourism sector is not yet playing a key role in the national reporting, and is arguably absent from the global initiative.

In order to address this anomaly, the CFT Registry was created by SUNx Malta, in collaboration with the World Travel and Tourism Council, WTTC.  The CFT Registry is THE entry of the travel and tourism industry into the NDCs and the global platform, as was recently emphasized by the Executive Secretary of the Paris Agreement, Ms Patricia Espinosa in a message to the President of the WTTC: “I look forward to seeing Travel & Tourism organisations participating in this sectoral Climate Friendly Travel Registry, as well as redoubling their efforts to ensure a climate neutral and resilient world by 2050 at the latest.”

Executive Director, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms Patricia Espinosa

Tourism that is conscious of the environment has many terms, but not many initiatives or campaigns are looking at all the aspect of sustainable development, and very few include any verifiable metrics.  The CFT Registry requires companies and communities to provide these figures.  But, to be registered properly requires the inputs of hard data that is verified by a third party, and it is not always easy to work this out.

SUNx Malta is a small organisation, and we are not in a consultant company that intends to develop carbon offset plans for registered parties.  We believe it is the responsibility of each company to make its own plans, but we will provide advice, guidelines and links to relevant documentation to help develop the relevant plans.  I also expect that the Registry will become a platform for exchange of information, so that parties that are just starting can learn from those that have already developed a plan.

We have some exciting partners already.  One of the groups that have weathered the COVID 19 crisis is the camping community, and the head of Camping Outdoor Danmark joined the Registry after encouragement from Vesterlyng Camping on Zealand island in Denmark.  We have registrations from travel agencies dealing with properties in Canada, Latin America and Asia, and one of the first registrations was Aptamind advisory in London.  A few small hotels and lodges have registered, and one of the world’s leading hospitality training schools, Les Roches in Switzerland has joined.

Vesterlyng Camping, Denmark. Foto: Mie Neel

Why is this important, and why should a company or a community register their ambitions?  Well, there are several good reasons.  You will be part of the global climate action, you will be able to feel good about doing something for the planet and the metrics allow for monitoring.  But the three most important arguments are:

  • The CFT Registry get you clients! Travelers and tourists are becoming more and more concerned about the impact of tourism on the environment, and they want information about the climate change impacts of tourist activities.  Tourists are declaring climate as an emergency!  Therefore, developing a climate action plan and recording that on the CFT registry will attract the kind of visitors that are concerned about environmental issues.
  • The CFT Registry saves you money! Making a carbon action plan is not just a charitable decision – lowering the carbon footprint of any enterprise is mainly a question of reducing energy consumption, and this translates directly into cost savings.  Joining the Registry will be a way of sharing these plans and to build up a database of good practices.
  • The CFT Registry will be a legal requirement! Governments around the world are starting to legislate for climate action, and soon every company will have to provide a carbon reduction plan.  Developing the plans now and reporting the emission data on the CFT Registry now is a smart way of preparing for the future.

So, why are companies not clambering to get on the Registry?  I guess they are currently totally absorbed with COVID19 recovery, and it is not their priority at present.  They may also simply not be aware of the issues, and I assume that they think it is very difficult to come up with carbon data.  The registration process is relatively simple, and it is all web-based on: https://climatefriendly.travel/.

  • The first part is a pledge to support Climate Friendly Travel and aim for carbon neutrality by 2050. This is Part A on the website.
  • A small administrative fee is asked to cover the maintenance of the website, support our communications efforts and pay for a small team of assistants.
  • Part B is where the rubber hits the road, but as I read somewhere: If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it!
  • The first questions relate to the Sustainable Development Goals. Which of the 17 Goals are particularly relevant to your operation.  Not every company deals with every SDG, but we would like to encourage investigation into the relevance of the SDGs.  After all – this is the globally agreed sustainability agenda for 2030.
  • Then there are 4 questions about carbon emissions: Your current emissions, your estimated peak emissions, your estimated emission in 2050, and your trajectory of emissions starting with a 2020 baseline and projected emissions in 2030, 2040 and 2050. If companies are not sure about this, they have two years to work out the metrics, and we will help.
  • There are additional windows to share specific reports and innovative achievements.

All-in-all, not a very complicated exercise, especially for the larger companies.  But, to actually work out carbon emissions, carbon reduction strategies and action plans and to be able to predict carbon emission in the future is not a simple task, and it may require outside help.

My other concern is that private sector partners are not convinced that this is a priority when the Governments themselves are not really making much progress.  A recent review of the NDCs was very critical and illustrated that most countries are not on track to reach the 1.5 degrees warming goal of the Paris Agreement.  Yet, this should not be a reason to avoid taking action, but rather an argument to lead the way.

Photo from Sustainable Hospitality Alliance

My job will involve a gradual process of convincing tourism and travel companies they should be serious, and they should look at the impact their operations have on the environment.  At the same time, we will also help those companies to deal with the effects that climate change will have on their operations.  After all, climate action is a combination of mitigating the effect of climate change by reducing carbon emissions and adaptation to the impacts of climate change by embracing all other Sustainable Development Goals.

I hope that my work will help to bring the travel and tourism community into the mainstream discussions about Sustainable Development and Climate Action.