DOMESTIC and international tourism account for eight per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, four times more than previously estimated, according to a study published on Monday (7).
As in past decades, the United States is the single largest emitter of tourism-related carbon emissions, with other wealthy nations – Germany, Canada and Britain – also in the top 10.
But fast-growing middle classes have moved several emerging economies up the ranking, with China in second place and India, Mexico and Brazil in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
The multi-trillion dollar industry’s carbon footprint is expanding rapidly, driven by demand for energy-intensive air travel, researchers reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.
“Tourism is set to grow faster than many other economic sectors,” with revenue projected to swell by four per cent annually through 2025, noted lead author Arunima Malik, a researcher at the University of Sydney’s business school.
Holding the sector’s carbon pollution in check will likely require carbon taxes or CO2 trading schemes for aviation, the researchers concluded.
International travel involving long-haul flights is among the fastest-growing sectors, and could threaten efforts to rein in planet-warming carbon pollution.
The total number of air passengers is expected to almost double by 2036 to 7.8 billion per year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The aviation industry accounts for two per cent of all human-generated CO2 emissions, and would rank 12th if it were a country.
“We see very fast tourism demand growth from China and India over the past few years, and expect this trend will continue in the next decade or so,” Ya-Sen Sun, a professor at the University of Queensland Business School in Australia, and co-author of the study, said.
“What’s worrying is that people with a rising income tend to travel further, more frequently, and with a higher reliance on aviation.”
International travel accounts for a quarter of tourism-related carbon emissions.
Neither tourism nor aviation are currently covered by the 2015 Paris climate treaty.
In 2016, however, 191 countries struck a deal – voluntary until 2027 – under which the aviation industry would curb most of its greenhouse emissions after 2020 by diverting about two per cent of its revenue to reforestation and other carbon-reducing projects.
On Monday, the UN’s climate chief said during UN climate talks in Bonn that it was “in the interest” of the tourism industry to cut its carbon pollution.
Plane crazy: Tourism demand for air travel leads to rise in carbon pollution