New global panel to advance tourism’s climate goals

The three executive board members of the Tourism Panel on Climate Change (TPCC) launched today at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, a ‘Foundation Framework’ setting out key milestones for this first-of-its-kind initiative. 

 

The TPCC represents a new era of global collaboration to provide vital independent and impartial metrics that will support the tourism industry’s transition to net-zero emissions and climate resilient development. 

 

Its mission is “to inform and rapidly advance science-based climate action across the global tourism system in support of the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement”. 

 

The TPCC brings together more than 60 leading experts from over 30 countries and from across academia, business, and civil society, under the leadership of Professors Daniel Scott, Susanne Becken and Geoffrey Lipman. The three executive board members presented today the ‘Foundation Framework’ for the new international TPCC in a panel organised by the the Sustainable Tourism Global Center (STGC) to facilitate a new era of climate resilient tourism which is on track to achieve zero emissions by 2050 and advances the Sustainable Development Goals. 

 

The TPCC has been created by STGC, led by Saudi Arabia, the world’s first multi-country, multi-stakeholder global coalition to lead, accelerate, and track the tourism industry’s transition to net-zero emissions, as well as drive action to protect nature and support communities.  

 

The  ‘Foundation Framework’ outlines three major outputs:

1. Climate Action Stock Take Reports – The TPCC will develop a new set of peer-reviewed and open-source indicators that track important connections between climate change and tourism, including progress on sector commitments in support of Paris Climate Agreement goals. TPCC will publish an update of these metrics every three years, with the first to be delivered at COP28 in 2023. 

2. Science Assessment – The TPCC will undertake the first comprehensive synthesis in more than 15 years of the state of tourism relevant knowledge about climate change emission trends, impacts, future risks, and a focus on mitigation and adaptation solutions. This assessment will include an open and transparent review process and will be published in time for COP29 in 2024. 

3. Horizon Papers – The TPCC will identify strategic knowledge gaps to meet the sector’s Paris Climate Agreement obligations through expert reviews and new analysis to support policy and decision-makers. 

 

Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said: “The Sustainable Tourism Global Center’s mandate is to lead, track and accelerate the global tourism industry’s transition to net-zero. A crucial step in delivering on this mandate is for the industry and destinations to be able to track and measure their progress. Commissioning the TPCC enables stakeholders – large and small – across the sector to access the information needed to measure their progress towards net-zero emissions.”

 

Gloria Guevara, Chief Special Advisor at the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, reiterated: “The STGC’s aim is to inform and encourage stakeholders to take urgent action to address the climate crisis. To this end, the TPCC will produce a vital scientific benchmark against which we can measure progress in the sector’s transition to net-zero emissions and climate readiness.”

 

Professor Scott said: “The climate crisis demands a whole-of-society response. The tourism sector has embraced science-based emission targets and this initiative will deliver vital data and research to accelerate the transition of tourism to the net-zero economy of the future. Having worked as a climate change academic for over 20 years, I am delighted to be part of this bold commitment of such a large and dedicated group of tourism focused climate scientists to inject vital new collaborations that will inform and empower intensified sector-wide climate action.”  -TradeArabia News Service