No apologies: ‘eXistential’ climate change and peak GHG emissions 2025 are not advocacy issues. Travel & tourism must act now!
We at SUNx Malta make no apologies for pushing the existential imperative of achieving peak greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2025. The ‘x’ in our name means ‘eXistential’. Existential is not an advocacy issue.
On World Environment Day, June 5, we are again reaching out to the leadership of the travel & tourism sector to act on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (Sixth Assessment Report), which called for three clear targets to have any chance of stabilising global temperatures at Paris 1.5°C by mid-century:
- 2025: Peak GHG emissions
- 2030: 43% reduction in GHG emissions
- 2050: Net Zero GHG emissions
It is a fact that many of the leading travel & tourism organisations and companies have strongly committed to the 2030 and 2050 goals. Their commitments are epitomised by the Glasgow Declaration.
But what happened to the 2025 goal to peak GHG emissions?
Who in the tourism sector has even recognised the IPCC science-based call that says any mid- and long-term goals are dependent on facing up to the harsh realities now, and setting a 2025 ambition to peak GHG emissions?
Who wants to even try to ‘bend our trend’?
How many floods, wildfires, ice melts, and deaths will it take for tourism to act now, not in seven years’ time?
For sure it is a huge challenge for every tourism stakeholder. And, yes, aviation is a hard-to-abate sector.
But during COVID we faced up to challenges because there was no alternative.
Now we have a chance to prepare. We still have time to get our act together.
As Australian researcher David Sprat, author of Climate Code Red, wrote in an article for our latest eXist newsletter:
“One after another politicians, business leaders, journalists and NGO advocates talk about ‘net zero 2050’ and the 1.5°C Paris goal in the same breath and get away with it. This gross underestimation of the climate condition is utterly delusional, and very few seem to be calling it out.”
Maybe it’s time for a first amendment to the much-publicised Glasgow Declaration — “Sign on to Plan B: Peak GHG Emissions by 2025” — a contingency at least, and a Precautionary Principle lifeline at best.
About SUNx Malta — Strong Universal Network
SUNx Malta is a legacy for the late Maurice Strong, father of sustainable development. Its goal is to advance Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) ~ low carbon : SDG linked : Paris 1.5°C.
SUNx has a core partnership with Malta’s Ministry of Tourism & Consumer Protection and Malta Tourism Authority to advance Climate Friendly Travel, to create a UNFCCC-linked CFT Registry, and to promote CFT Education.
By 2030, SUNx plans to put in place 100,000 Strong Climate Champions across all UN States via a network of Strong Climate Friendly Travel Chapters.
Don’t miss other “Good Tourism” Partner messages from SUNx
Featured image (top of post): Graphic supplied by SUNx. Fire background by Hans (CC0) via Pixabay.
