Tourism’s Climate Promises Span 20 Years — With Few Results, Study Finds

Despite two decades of climate pledges, tourism emissions are still rising and many commitments remain unfulfilled. UN Tourism says it's time to focus on the future, but real credibility will depend on whether the next wave of promises leads to measurable change.

Despite decades of climate pledges, hardly any of them have led to change or a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by researchers at Linnaeus University in Sweden and the University of Waterloo in Canada.

The paper, by Stefan Gössling and Daniel Scott, looked at the four main international climate declarations signed by governments, tourism bodies, and businesses going back to 2003.

The researchers argued that emissions from tourism are still rising, and the sector is not on track to cut them by half by 2030, as many groups have pledged.

“The tourism sector’s response to climate change over the last two decades, has been insufficient,” the study said.

The most recent estimates of tourism's contributions to greenhouse gas emissions are around 9%, making it one of the biggest polluting sectors.

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