Tourism industry declares intent to cut carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2035

The report 'Leading the Challenge on Climate Change' was launched at an event hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales at Clarence House which was attended by some of the most influential companies from global travel and tourism industry, collectively represented by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

In the report WTTC members offer a vision of a low climate risk travel and tourism industry that decouples growth from increased energy use and resulting greenhouse gas emissions. It represents a ‘call to action’ to others in the industry and by setting an example of best practice encourages governments to offer leadership at a critical time during the period leading to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Copenhagen in December. The report calls for world leaders to take bold steps to reach an international agreement on climate change.

WTTC members chose to focus on five key areas of sustainability to achieve their vision and the report highlights a commitment to ten action points within these key areas. The first action point sets an aspiration target of 50% reduction of CO2 emissions across the industry by 2035 which they will achieve by learning from others and sharing examples of best practice across the industry that reduce energy use, improve energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy. They set an ambitious interim target, in terms of CO2 emission reduction, of 30% by 2020 with an international agreement on global emission reduction, or 25% by 2020 in the absence of such an agreement.

An institution within the University of Cambridge, the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (formerly Cambridge Programme for Industry) has collaborated with 100 of the world’s most influential travel and tourism companies to help them respond to the challenges and opportunities of climate change.

The institution has a global reputation for its ground-breaking international leadership seminars on sustainability and strategy and in more recent years has expanded its work to include policy and strategy groups for leaders aspiring to drive system change at national and international levels.

Drawing on its experience of managing The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, The ClimateWise Insurance Initiative and The P8 Pensions Initiative, CPSL has worked with members of the World Travel and Tourism Council to create a dialogue to increase understanding of the impact of climate change.