Travel and tourism are among the leading causes of rise in carbon emissions in the world. It accounts for four times more emissions than previously thought, a study has found. World-wide tourism accounts for 8% of all the world’s carbon emissions. The biggest single contributor to the tourism carbon footprint is international air travel, which has been on the rise with growing affluence.
Earlier estimates said that tourism accounted for 2.5% – 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The new study, published in Nature Climate Change looked at the spending habits of travellers in 160 countries and suggested that tourism could threaten the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement.
As in past decades, the United States is the single largest emitter of tourism-related carbon emissions, with Germany, Canada and Britain featuring in the top ten.