22 SUSTAINABILITY
THE World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has launched an ambitious and groundbreaking Net Zero Roadmap, to guide the global Travel & Tourism sector. WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, developed the roadmap in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Accenture. The roadmap provides
concrete guidelines and
recommendations to help guide Travel & Tourism businesses on their journey towards net zero. By providing milestones for meaningful climate
action and emissions reduction for different industries within the sector, the roadmap sets out the challenges ahead and how the Travel & Tourism sector can decarbonise and reach net zero by 2050. This report shows how the sector is affected by climate change through its impact on destinations around the world. But as with many other sectors, it is also responsible for an estimated 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The sector, therefore, has a key role to play in
fighting climate change, by raising its which will require heightened ambitions and differentiated decarbonisation approaches, as outlined in the roadmap. Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “I am delighted to announce our pioneering Net Zero Roadmap for Travel & Tourism. It helps travel industries reach individual targets to reduce our carbon footprint. “Many destinations are affected by the impacts of climate change with rising sea levels, deforestation and the loss of animal and plant species. Communities that
April/May 2022 Travel News
WTTC launches groundbreaking Net Zero Roadmap for Travel & Tourism The detailed roadmap includes key decarbonisation
rely on tourism are first in line to see the impact and wanting to do something about it.
“The Travel & Tourism sector is taking this opportunity to be a catalyst for change. We have a responsibility towards our people and planet. It
is
absolutely critical that the private and public sector we work collectively to achieve the Paris Agreement and prevent the global rise in temperatures.
“Our sector can be part of the change that is urgently required to mitigate impacts and adapt to the threats posed by climate change.”
Emily Weiss, Accenture’s Travel Industry Group Managing Director and Head of Accenture’s Travel Industry Group globally, said: “As the travel industry resets after a tough few years, there is an incredible opportunity to rebuild responsibly and accelerate the shift towards a net-zero future for the sector. “The Net Zero Roadmap offers a pragmatic but ambitious course of action that will help the industry create real and visible targets to reduce its carbon impact, providing the transparency that consumers demand.
“Crucially, it identifies the big levers where travel can turn a corner on emissions and provides the building blocks to create meaningful change.”
The roadmap presents a new target framework with decarbonisation corridors, which groups Travel & Tourism businesses into three clusters, depending on their emission profiles and the difficulty of abating their GHG emissions.
Certain industries may achieve net zero before
2050 if more ambitious targets are set and different decarbonisation approaches are followed.
Belfast Ranked in Top 20 Global Sustainable Destinations
BELFAST has made the Top 20 official list of sustainable destinations in the world, securing a prominent place on the international stage as a leading city tourism destination committed to sustainable development and growth. This international ranking was confirmed by the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index), the world’s largest sustainability performance improvement and benchmarking programme for destinations which revealed its Top 20 list of sustainable cities at a major event in Paris.
Other leading sustainable Top 20 cities for 2021 include Gothenburg, Zurich, Sydney, Helsinki, Cork, Brussels and Glasgow.
Top 10 Most Sustainable Countries in the World 10. Netherlands
The country ranked 18th in air quality and 9th place in water sanitation.
9. Canada
Canada is aiming to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.
8. Germany
The country plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 55% in 2030.
7. New Zealand
New Zealand’s parliament has passed a legislation to aim for total net zero by 2050.
6. Denmark leading in wind power, around half of
the country’s energy is sourced from wind turbines. The city Copenhagen in Denmark is the world’s largest green city
5. Finland
Finland is planning on reducing their fossil fuel by 50% within the next 10 years.
4. Japan
Japan is planning to have 50% of new cars to produce zero emissions within the next 10 years. The country’s biggest major cities are aiming to be 100% carbon emission free by 2050.
3. Norway
The country’s parliament has pledged to be entirely carbon neutral by 2030, which is 20 years earlier than most other countries’ plans.
2. Switzerland The country annually converts an average of 100,000 tons of waste into energy for the community. The country is also committed to preserving water.
1.Sweden
The country has the highest renewable energy usage, lowest carbon emissions, as well as this Sweden has some of the best education programs. By 2045 the country will have reduced their emissions by 85% to 100%
With a score this year of 70.7 percent, Belfast has climbed up the rankings to number 19 among a total of 73 global destinations. Demonstrating a focus to build back better and bring sustainability to the forefront of tourism growth and development. The GDS Index evaluated Belfast’s on four key areas: environmental strategy and infrastructure, social sustainability performance, industry supplier support and the strategy and initiatives of the city’s destination marketing and management organisation (DMMO) Visit Belfast.
Belfast launched its Resilience Strategy – the city’s first climate plan – in December 2020, setting out 30 transformational programmes to transition the Belfast City Region to an inclusive, zero-emissions, climate- resilient economy within a generation. Belfast joined the GDS Index in 2020, and, after debuting at number 47, the city has worked collaboratively
to develop an ambitious plan to
accelerate performance and putting sustainability at the, heart of its tourism recovery and growth plans. Welcoming the news, Lord Mayor of Belfast Councillor Kate Nicholl, said: “I’m really pleased that Belfast has been recognised by the GDS-Index for its efforts in driving its environmental and sustainability credentials and placing sustainable tourism at the heart of city development.
“Tourism plays an important role in enriching the culture and vibrancy of our city and a move towards building a more sustainable tourism destination is vital in future- proofing Belfast for generations to come. Being placed in the top 20 sustainable destinations elevates our city on the global stage and clearly sets out our qualities as an appealing, attractive, responsible tourism destination. “The notable jump in our performance is testament to the continued collaborative work by Council, Visit Belfast and city partners to drive Belfast towards sustainable and inclusive growth. Congratulations to everyone involved in making this happen.” Launched in February, Visit Belfast’s three-year recovery plan, Rebuilding City Tourism 2021-24, set out a new direction of travel for tourism promotion. The plans focus on supporting sustainable tourism recovery while moving to a greener and more inclusive tourism model. The plan also forces a rethink about what a new and successful tourism destination looks like. Visit Belfast Chief Executive Gerry Lennon said: “This is hugely positive news for our city – to be ranked
alongside some of the most pioneering cities in the world for sustainability is a significant achievement. It’s critically important that we see Belfast transition to a sustainable destination as quickly as possible, so I’m extremely proud of the contribution and work in the last year to see Belfast propelled into the Top 20 list of top sustainable destinations globally.
“Since launching our ambitious sustainability plan with Belfast City Council, we have been focused on attracting visitors to the city, generating economic benefit and inclusive growth and enabling Belfast to become a more sustainable place to visit, meet and live. “Working with our industry partners, we are placing sustainability at the centre of everything we do, adopting responsible and sustainable tourism practices to ensure Belfast remains relevant in a constantly competitive marketplace in which consumers are more culturally and environmentally aware. These partnership efforts will be crucial as we work to deliver on our commitments outlined in our tourism recovery plan.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to see that our collective efforts in this area have been recognised globally by the GDS Movement. We must thank our funders Belfast City Council and Tourism Northern Ireland, as well as our hospitality and tourism industry partners and the entire Visit Belfast team for their dedicated focus as we #buildbackbetter.”
Earlier this year, Visit Belfast also launched the largest- ever green tourism city partnership at a dedicated ‘Sustainable Belfast’ event. The ‘Green Tourism’
initiative aims to bolster
Belfast’s sustainability credentials and enhance the competitiveness of its tourism and hospitality sector by awarding an independent, third party certification to boost sustainable business.
Designed to help individual tourism businesses contribute to improving the environment, address climate change and lift the local economy, the Green Tourism initiative, the largest and most established sustainable certification programme in the world, encourages eligible local businesses to boost their environmental credentials and be rewarded for their efforts through an international award.
Funded by Belfast City Council and delivered by Visit Belfast, the initiative has already increased Belfast Green Tourism members by 400% with the aim of creating 150 Green Tourism certified businesses across Belfast city in 2022.
Visit Belfast was also awarded a bronze accreditation from Green Tourism in June this year in recognition of its focus on developing sustainable practices within the organisation and driving the city’s tourism ambitions to deliver key sustainable tourism initiatives. In addition to launching a new sustainability policy, Visit Belfast has developed a new business events sustainability framework for event organisers to encourage green tourism throughout the events and conferencing sector. Through this initiative, Visit Belfast aims to increase the number of inbound business events delivered against dedicated sustainability and legacy targets to 80% by 2025.
levers and corresponding actions for five key industries of the Travel & Tourism sector: accommodation, tour operators, aviation, cruise, and tourism intermediaries such as online travel agents (OTAs) and metasearch engines.
Acknowledging that different industries face
different challenges to decarbonise, the roadmap calls on businesses to increase their ambitions where possible and provides detailed recommendations for five areas: Set baselines and emission targets now to achieve individual and sector goals
Monitor and report progress regularly Collaborate within and across industries and government Provide finance and investment required for the transition
Raise awareness and build knowledge and capabilities on climate change.
This roadmap calls upon world leaders to give Travel
& Tourism the same level of support offered to other sectors. It also gives recommendations to governments on how they can support the sector, which before the pandemic represented 10.4% of the global GDP (US$9.2 trillion), to address climate challenges and reach goals to achieve a net zero future.
The collaborative process included key organisations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), International Air Transport Association (IATA), Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), Travalyst, and SHA
(Sustainable Hospitality Alliance), among others.
Ovolo Hotel Group launches global ‘Plant’d’ initiative
INDEPENDANT and dynamic designer hotel collection, Ovolo Hotels announces its latest move in an ongoing pledge to ethical eating, conscious cuisine and cutting-edge veg, becoming the first hotel brand globally to commit to a vegetarian-lead offering, Plant’d, across its hotel restaurants. The announcement signifies a further progressive shift for the designer hotel collection, following the success of its ‘Year of the Veg’ campaign which launched in October 2020, where venues transitioned to a vegetarian only offering for an initial 365 days, serving up vibrant vegetarian and plant-based cuisine. “Meat is being removed for a second year in a row
at Ovolo Hotels. With a number of our Ovolo venues already serving plant-based cuisine, we have decided to go the full 100%. It’s been a strategic move, but Ovolo prides itself on being an industry leader. We believe that the world changes, therefore we continue to evolve – we want to ensure we are doing our bit to help preserve our environment, promote healthy eating and enhance the image of amazing vegetarian and plant-based dining,” said Ovolo Group’s Founder and CEO, Girish Jhunjhnuwala.
Jhunjhnuwala continued, “There has also been a lot of learnings along the way, and we want to share those insights with others in the industry and outside the industry considering making the switch to a vegetarian- lead offerings or integrating it into their existing offering. That’s why we have created our Plant’d Playbook white paper, which will be publicly available for all to access”
Ovolo’s Group Creative Culinary Partner, Ian Curley has worked with the hotel’s restaurants across the group including Hong Kong, Australia and Bali to take the Plant’d veg pledge. All venues will launch with new menus from launch day.
Inspired by an increasing consumer interest in the
many benefits of a plant-based diet, this change reflects Ovolo’s commitment to delivering its customers’ desires, while promoting a ‘eating good to feel good’ mentality. Guests will continue to enjoy the quality food and beverage offering they have come to expect from Ovolo restaurants, while nourishing their bodies and feeding their souls through menus which reflect a
renewed commitment to sustainability and wellbeing.
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