We are a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.

What is the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism?

The Glasgow Declaration is a Commitment to a Decade of Tourism Climate Action.

It aims to act as a catalyst for increased urgency about the need to accelerate climate action in tourism and to secure strong actions and commitment to cut tourism emissions at least in half over the next decade and reach Net Zero emissions as soon as possible before 2050.

The intent of the Glasgow Declaration is to urge and enable all travel and tourism stakeholders to sign and demonstrate, for the first time as a united sector, a shared voice and commitment to aligning the sector’s climate ambitions with scientific recommendations and international agreements.

The Glasgow Declaration launched 4th November, 2021 in Glasgow, as an official side-event at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference.

Read here the full text of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.

Why the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action?

Fossil fuel dependence, unsustainable land use, wasteful consumption, pollution, biodiversity loss, and COVID-19 have driven us to extreme climate and planetary health crisis, jeopardising tourism: Floods, droughts, famine and fires threaten communities, infrastructure, supply chains and food security.

Read more about Climate Change, it’s causes, consequences and SDG13 Climate Action here.

Rebalancing our relationship with nature and regeneration for ecological, social, economic and personal well-being is vital.

Tourism is dependent on flourishing communities, yet can also be damaging.

COP26 in November 2021 offers what might well be the last chance to get the world on track to achieving the Paris Agreement trajectory to maximum global warming of +1.5C.

Covid offers probably a once in a planet’s life time opportunity to build back better with green recovery, for tourism’s alignment with the Paris Agreement and world sustainability.

How did the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action Come About?

On 14th January, 2020, Tourism Declared a Climate Emergency. Earth Changers were a launch day signatory, joining other travel organisations coming together to find solutions, acknowledging the science and wanting to act to address the climate crisis over next decade.

In June 2020, the Future of Tourism coalition of 7 NGOs involved in tourism launched, including The Travel Foundation, in a call for the world to rethink tourism and for organisations to join the movement. Again, Earth Changers was a signatory from launch. This took the form of agreeing to 13 Guiding Principles to sidestep the excesses of the past and put tourism on a renewal course for a more sustainable future.

One of these Principles of course related to the climate crisis, and with both organisations calling for industry-wide collaboration, it made sense for the Future of Tourism and Tourism Declares to partner in January 2021 on that portion of the work. They planned to develop a “blueprint” for climate action in tourism, to be launched at COP26.

Since then, Tourism Declares and the Travel Foundation have created a committee to draft the Glasgow Declaration, along with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Visit Scotland; in consultation with a diverse range of travel and tourism stakeholders, including private sector actors, international organisations, NGOs and academia. In doing so, Tourism Declares became the flagship climate programme of the Travel Foundation.

The implementation of the Glasgow Declaration is led by the UNWTO in collaboration with the Travel Foundation and Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency, within the framework of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme and hosted within their website. This is the UN hub for the tourism element of the Sustainable Consumption Programme (SCP) of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP) whose mission is to advance the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 and also deliver progress under connected goals such as SDG13, SDG14 and SDG15

What Do Signatories to The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism Commit to?

By becoming a signatory, we agree to implement the commitments detailed in the Glasgow Declaration, notably:

Support: the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and reach Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050.
Plan: Deliver climate action plans within 12 months from signing (or updating them) and implementing them accordingly
Align: with five shared pathways (Measure, Decarbonise, Regenerate, Collaborate, Finance) to accelerate and ensure climate action is consistent across all of tourism.
Report: Report publicly both progress against interim and long-term targets, as well as the actions being taken, at least annually
Collaborate: Work in a collaborative and constructive spirit within the rest of signatories of the Glasgow Declaration sharing good practices and solutions, and disseminating information to encourage support one another to reach targets as quickly as possible.

Does the Glasgow Declaration Go Far Enough?

Our fellow signatory and partner SunX says,

“It builds on previous UNWTO Tourism & Climate Declarations in Djerba in 2003 and Davos in 2007. All good and well intentioned, but now we need much more to help to avert the “Code Red” Climate Crisis that all UN states are facing”, “It moves in the right direction, but it has to go further and it has to go faster.”

“The Glasgow goal of a Net Carbon Zero travel industry by 2050 should shift to 2030, with a hard stop of all greenhouse gas emissions (carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, and methane compounds) by 2050.

“A just transition to Net Zero before 2050 will only be possible if tourism’s recovery accelerates the adoption of sustainable consumption and production, and redefines our future success to consider not only economic value but rather the regeneration of ecosystems, biodiversity and communities.” - The Glasgow Declaration.