Tourism and international climate protection – possible entry points

The tourism sector in particular, is an industry with high growth potential. A sharp increase is forecast for long-distance travel, especially. However, this also leads to a significant rise of greenhouse gas emissions in this sector. Against this background, the aim of the project is to involve the tourism sector into international climate change policy.

adelphi investigated, in cooperation with project partners, how business, such as companies from the tourism industry can contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The conditions for the implementation of flexible mechanisms from the Kyoto Protocol were considered both from political and administrative perspectives as well as from an economic perspective. The results of the project revealed that the use of project-based Kyoto mechanisms in the tourism sector was not recommended, at least at that time.

Instead, two successful European energy efficiency campaigns in the hotel industry were identified as appropriate entry points for efficient climate protection. In cooperation with the Federal Environment Ministry, a concept was developed for the implementation of a campaign to promote energy efficiency measures in the German hotel industry.