2024 Declared Hottest Year On Record and Travel Emissions Set to Rise
Photo Credit: The European Union will not loosen its guidelines for airlines on emissions goals despite the war in Urkaine. Getty Images / Jordanlye
Skift Take
It’s a gloomy day for our planet and there are no signs of an emission slow down in the tourism sector. There are risks from the direct impacts of climate change on travel such as increasing storms, fires, floods and droughts.
Our world was hotter in 2024 than any other year on record, the United Nations, the European Commission, and NASA said on Friday.
Greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere rose to record levels, and the average global temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time – that was the level agreed to almost decade to as part of a landmark climate agreement in Paris.
Despite many efforts and pledges from within travel and tourism, UN Tourism projects that the emissions from this sector will rise 25% by 2030.
There are a variety of figures as to how much the travel and tourism industry emits. A recent study and the World Travel and Tourism Council puts the industry's impact at 8-9% of annual global emissions.
Figures from the European Commission's Copernicus programme show a rise in global temperatures. Credit: European Commission“One can only feel sad, but at the same it has to spur us into action,”
