Climate Impact for Travel Moves From Marketing to Operations

25.08.2023 - 14:20 / skift.com / prince Harry / European Commission / Matthew Parsons

Sustainability in travel will no longer simply be judged on stated goals. Rhetoric turns to accountability as companies and destinations are forced to put goals into operations in 2023. Travel climate ambitions have reached a moment of maturity.

Discussions on sustainability peaked in 2022, and culminated in the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, or COP27, held in Egypt in November. 

Many companies made net zero pledges to coincide with this landmark event, while travel brands took the pulse of their customers over the year; unsurprisingly sustainability emerged as the priority.

Online travel agency Trip.com, for example, said 79 percent of its customers agreed sustainable travel was vital, based on a global survey of 7,705 people. And 70 percent demanded more sustainable options, and wanted travel companies to better explain and label sustainable travel products.

Climate change is front of mind for business travelers too, with six in 10 claiming to be under pressure to limit their carbon impact, according to a survey of 500 business travelers by Opinium and World Travel Protection.

The momentum will roll over into 2023, spearheaded by travel’s most under-fire sector: aviation. 

Flights are a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and activists have airlines in their sights as travel roars back after the pandemic. They even targeted Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to make their point.  

On an operational level they’ll prioritize sustainable aviation fuel rather than carbon offsetting after signing deals with fuel producers and securing commitments from international corporations. Those partnerships are too numerous to list here — which wasn’t the case at the start of 2022.

Investments in carbon capture technology will probably ramp up too, as Air Canada has done with climate solutions company Carbon Engineering. Technology will be a key theme, including initiatives like Swiss applying “shark skin” to its planes.

The hospitality sector is proving just as adaptable. Global accreditation standards will be a key theme, as they’re designed to keep everyone in check. Walter Goetz, head of cabinet for the transport commissioner at the European Commission, said a new single standard was being developed during an interview at the Global Business Travel Association’s inaugural Sustainability Summit.

At the same time bodies like the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and Sustainable Hospitality Alliance are uniting, and collaborating with other non-profits like Prince Harry’s Travalyst. It’s rolling up brands to bring standardization and a carbon calculation model to the wider masses, including agencies like Booking.com, Expedia Group, Skyscanner and Trip.com. Expect more big names to come,