A Call on Climate Action for Travel and Tourism

Framing Statement:

The world is now only five years away from 2030, a critical milestone for delivering on the goals of the Paris Agreement, the Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Sustainable Development Agenda. The time available to implement meaningful action is becoming critically short, with the consequences of a changing climate increasingly visible – from rising temperatures and biodiversity loss to worsening climate and nature-related risk. Travel & Tourism is already feeling these impacts and is not just at a turning point, but being actively reshaped by these accelerating changes.

As one of the world’s largest economic sectors and a key driver of economic growth, travel & tourism is uniquely positioned to support the shift toward climate stability, ecosystem restoration, and community well-being. Deeply rooted in place, dependent on nature, and shaped by people, it holds significant potential to contribute to the systemic climate solutions this decade demands. Across the sector, destinations and businesses are already demonstrating how travel & tourism can reduce emissions, build resilience, and help restore the very ecosystems it relies on.

Building on the shared ambition outlined in the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, GBTA, GSTC, Travalyst, Travel Foundation, WSHA and WTTC call on all stakeholders in the travel & tourism sector — from policymakers and businesses to investors, destination leaders, and civil society — to accelerate climate action and help shape a more resilient, regenerative, and future-fit sector by 2030 and beyond.

• Integrate travel & tourism into all levels of climate policy. This includes Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) to regional and local climate strategies. The sector’s systemic role across infrastructure, ecosystems, and livelihoods makes it a critical partner in designing effective climate responses.
• Align regulatory frameworks globally to provide stability and support long-term climate action. Predictable, coherent and science-based policies across jurisdictions that incentivise a zero-carbon trajectory at lowest cost for both demand and supply side are essential to unlock private investment and scale regenerative travel & tourism models and solutions globally.
• Increase alignment on climate and nature action. Travel & tourism can contribute to both UNFCCC and CBD implementation and shall be recognised in cross-sectoral strategies and financing that reflect tourism ’s reliance on, and ability to support, healthy ecosystems and climate-resilient destinations.

• Scale up climate adaptation in travel & tourism-reliant regions, particularly in those economies highly dependent on the sector and most vulnerable to rising climate risks (e.g. SIDS, mountain regions, biodiversity hotspots). Prioritisation of investments in nature-based solutions, local infrastructure, and community-driven approaches are key in the sector’s transformation.
• Embed travel & tourism in national-level resilience frameworks to ensure the sector is eligible for climate finance, planning tools, and technical support for local actors.
• Focus on adaptation measures that are regenerative in nature — those that reduce climate risk while restoring degraded ecosystems, supporting community well-being, and increasing the long-term value and viability of tourism destinations.

• Shift from climate risk assessment to action. Tourism faces a wide range of risks — physical, transition, financial, social, and systemic — that must be addressed not only through holistic assessment, but with the tools, resources, and institutional readiness to respond at scale, making them a driving force for innovation and investment.
• Integrate tourism into national and destination-level risk planning, including early warning systems, resilience financing, insurance strategies, and business continuity plans. Special attention should be given to SMEs and communities most exposed to disruption.

• Accelerate decarbonisation across the travel and tourism system — from transport and accommodation to food systems and supply chains. Key solutions include Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), investment in rail and renewables, energy-efficient design, circular models, and actions that protect and restore ecosystems with carbon sequestration potential, among others.
• Create enabling conditions for transition, including better access to sustainable infrastructure, incentives for business model transformation, and investment in workforce reskilling and innovation.
• Climate action makes business sense. Measures such as reducing food waste, improving water and energy efficiency, or shifting to low-emission transport not only cut emissions, but also lower costs, strengthen operations, and build long-term resilience — delivering shared value for businesses, communities, and governments.

• Mobilise climate finance for regenerative travel & tourism models, with a focus on blended capital, climate-linked loans, and investment frameworks that deliver resilience, decarbonisation, and nature co-benefits.
• Ensure access to finance across the sector, particularly for SMEs, local enterprises, and operators in the Global South which often face the highest climate exposure but the greatest barriers to funding.

• Harmonise sustainability data frameworks across travel & tourism to support efficient, credible tracking of climate impact, risk, and regenerative progress.
• Develop consistent, credible, and comparable data to measure climate impact for tourism, track progress, and inform decision-making. Better data enables more targeted investment and drives more effective climate interventions.
• Ensure data systems are interoperable and accessible, particularly where similar tools or methodologies exist. Usability is key to uptake, especially for small actors and local governments, which are key stakeholders in travel & tourism.

• Foster transformative collaboration across sectors, institutions, and geographies. Systemic change in travel and tourism requires increased and aligned efforts across the entire value chain, including industry platforms, policy frameworks, supply chains, and finance ecosystems, as well as pivotal stakeholder groups such as corporate travel buyers and the investor community, among others.
• Strengthen sector-wide commitment to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, which offers a unifying framework for accelerating decarbonisation, adaptation, finance, capacity-building, and measurement.
• Position tourism as a delivery mechanism for shared climate and nature goals — not only as a sector in transition, but as a connector of systems, communities, and value chains capable of delivering regenerative outcomes at scale.

Note: The Call on Climate Action for Travel and Tourism has been shaped through extensive dialogue between all participating organisations and incorporates valuable input from UN Tourism. It is designed to align with and support UN Tourism’s climate action workstream as well as its mandate and commitment to advance tourism’s role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.