Published on : Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Tourism’s carbon footprint makes up eight percent of all global carbon emissions – which is four times more than previously estimated, according to a group of scientists from the Australian University in Sydney and University of Queensland and National Cheng Kung University from Taiwan.
The new research has resulted in a significantly higher number because the scientists carried out the demanding task of figuring out the whole supply chain in tourism for the first time.
They included transportation, accommodation, food, drinks, souvenirs, clothes, cosmetics and other commodities used or produced for the tourist industry. They identified carbon flows between 160 countries between 2009 and 2013.
Arunima Malik from the University of Sydney, being one of the authors of the report, said, “Previous studies only looked at certain commodities and supply chains, however we used multi-regional input-output analysis to trace over a billion supply chains for a range of commodities.”
Wealthy people travel more and hence impact the increase of emissions.
Our wish to travel to ‘exotic’ places, an increased addiction to air transport and to luxury goods has a much bigger effect on the planet than most travellers believe.
“Responsible tourists could help by being aware of their emissions from the activities they engage in, or the goods they buy, and then implementing measures, where possible, to reduce emissions,” Malik advised.
Tags: Tourism industry