How can tourism deliver on its climate commitments?

WTM London Sustainability Stage Tuesday, 8th Nov, 14:15 - 15:00

In the last few years, increasing numbers of actors across the global tourism sector have begun to step up to the challenge of responding to the climate emergency. Over 700 organisations, ranging from national tourism organisations and global brands to cities and SMEs having now committed to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, launched a year ago at COP26. 

Each signatory has made the same commitment to publish a climate action plan laying out how they will begin to align their operations with the need to cut global emissions in half by 2030, and reach Net Zero as fast as possible after that. Although the complex and fragmented nature of our sector means that these plans need to be very different to be specific to the circumstances of each signatory, we also need to be able to benefit from each other's experience and insights so as to build on each other’s work and accelerate action in the years to come. With this in mind, all signatories to the Glasgow Declaration have been encouraged to align the content of their plans with five pathways that explore how they will work on the challenges of  Measurement, Decarbonisation, Regeneration, Collaboration, and Finance.

The first Climate Action Plans are now beginning to be published, filling a huge gap in our industry’s collective climate strategy. In the months to come, as more and more signatories publish their first plans, everyone in our industry will be able to benefit from the ideas and actions of these frontrunners. Finally, through coming together to collaborate on this greatest of challenges, we are beginning to chart a shared way forward. 

This year at WTM I’ll be speaking with three very different signatories of the Glasgow Declaration. Each of them will be able to share their experiences of the challenges climate action presents, and also the opportunities it's offered them to operate better than before. 

Cat Jones is the CEO of Byway Travel. Launched during the pandemic at a time when tourism was hardly operational, Byway offers 100% flightfree travel with a mantra that “travelling through the world is better than flying over it”.

Ewout Versloot is a strategist for the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, the National Tourism Office for a country that is both acutely aware of the risks of rising sea levels, and also home to one the world's busiest airports. In September NBTC launched its Roadmap Towards Climate Neutral Tourism, laying out a pathway for its tourism sector to eliminate its emissions and deliver on its commitments.

Chloe King is the director of conservation for Solimar International, and lead author on the recent white paper: “Climate Action through Regeneration: Unlocking the Power of Communities and Nature through Tourism”, which brings together a range of inspiring case studies of nature-based climate action across the world and deeper analysis of what connects them.

Each of our panellists will bring very different experiences to our conversation . Yet they also share a lot of common ground on what is needed for every one of us looking to deliver meaningful climate action for our sector. Together we’ll discuss themes that range from the importance of rethinking business models, the need to explore new, and often surprising partnerships, to how different measures of success will be so important as we work together to transform tourism.

If you are at WTM next week, please come along…