Greenhouse gas emissions linked to tourism represented 8.8% of global emissions in 2019 and increased by 3.5% per year between 2009 and 2019, twice as much as the emissions of the global economy ( +1.5%), according to a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications.
Tourism growth has outpaced that of the global economy, with revenues nearly doubling in a decade, from $3.5 trillion in 2009 to $6 trillion in 2019, representing an annual growth rate of 5.5%. , according to this study.
This consumption is associated with a tourism carbon footprint of 5.2 gigatons (Gt) of CO2 equivalent in 2019. This is distributed between direct emissions which amounted to 1.8 Gt (52% coming from aviation , 18% from road transport), indirect emissions which represented 2.5 Gt (34% from services, 14% from oil production) and emissions from private vehicles (0.9 Gt).
In total, global tourism in 2019 was responsible for “8.8% of global anthropogenic warming,” according to the study.
10% reduction required
To achieve the objective of limiting global warming to +1.5°C as provided for in the Paris Agreement, the 5.2 Gt of greenhouse gas emissions from the sector should be reduced by more than 10%. per year until 2050.
A simple reduction in the volume of tourism (e.g. all countries reduce tourism demand by 5%) is “not an ideal approach”, according to this Nature Communications study, because it is not “fair and fair” depending on the country. Limiting the growth in demand for air transport, in particular long-haul international flights, “would make it possible to obtain desirable results from a climatic and social point of view”, propose the authors of this study.
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