Championing climate friendly travel at COP25

A COP25 side-event hosted by WTTC in partnership with UNFCCC focused on the 2050 Climate Neutral ambitions of the Travel & Tourism industry.

The event was opened by UNFCCC Executive Director Patricia Espinosa and WTTC President and CEO Gloria Guevara who called for increased Travel & Tourism low carbon ambition with Climate Friendly Travel as the new norm. They pledged intensified cooperation to drive this.

Thought-leaders

A panel of thought-leaders from across the sector, moderated by Professor Geoffrey Lipman, SUN^x Malta Co-creator and President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), a travel and tourism coalition of global destinations committed to quality service and green growth, then focussed on the responsibility of the world’s largest industry to meet the 2050 targets agreed at Paris in 2015. The panel covered Aviation, Cruises, Tour Operators, Reservations, and Carbon Trading.

Professor Lipman reviewed the findings from the inaugural Climate Friendly Travel Ambitions Report, produced in partnership with WTTC. Taking 2019 as a benchmark for the state of the industry, the report concluded that Travel & Tourism needs to get more engaged, must increase ambitions to Climate Neutral 2050 and must solve critical challenges around aviation growth and no carbon long term operations.

Climate Neutral Ambitions

As part of its response to this SUN^x Malta is developing a 2050 Climate Neutral Ambitions Registry where organisations and coalitions can publish their targets for 2050 and how they will achieve them; coupled with an annual Think Tank to review and update the previous year’s report.

Lipman also referenced development of a SUN^x learning portal to share best practice, a Climate Champions Program to support 100,000 next generation change-markers, and SDG-17 Partnerships to help support the transition towards a Climate Neutral sector.

The event concluded with a commitment to collaboration by UNWTO Executive Director Dr. Manuel Butler Halter.

A full recording of the event can be viewed here.