While many aspects of an industrialized world are interconnected in the current situation around climate change, there is no doubt that the explosion of air travel in recent decades is a major contributing factor.
Jet fuel burned to keep an airplane engine running is a source of CO2 emissions and, according to a recent An Oxford University study has contributed to 4% of human-caused global warming to date.
Related: A major airline has found an unusual way to reuse old flight attendants’ uniforms
One of the most extreme solutions that climate change activists have previously proposed is the “carbon passport”: a record of how much you fly in a year that, if exceeded a certain threshold, could prevent you from flying for a certain period. period.
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‘Limitations are expected to be seen’ by 2040, new travel report warns
A new report released by Australia-based travel company Intrepid Travel predicts that such “personal carbon allowances” are a likely scenario as the climate catastrophe worsens.
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“These allowances will manifest as passports that will force people to ration their carbon according to the global carbon budget, which is 750 billion tonnes through 2050,” reads the report, published in partnership with the firm predictive analysis The Future Laboratory. “By 2040, we can expect limitations to be placed on the number of trips permitted each year.”
Separate global warming predictions say that by the same year, global temperatures will rise. go up by at least 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to the Intrepid Report, this will make popular tourist destinations such as Greece and Mallorca in Spain too hot to visit during the summer months and will lead to an increase in tourists to traditionally colder European countries such as Belgium, Slovenia and Poland, a situation that will cause major upheaval not only in destinations most at risk from the impacts of climate change, but also in global tourism trends.
‘Tourism must evolve and become regenerative’
While the report is entirely speculative and it is unclear how such a “carbon passport” would measure miles traveled or what jurisdiction would be able to enforce it, the travel industry insists that what is currently considered an extreme measure will soon be could become commonplace.
This, in turn, may affect travel agencies who may not be able to rely on frequent travelers to book trips to distant destinations. According to Intrepid, the next decade will likely bring an explosion of “regenerative travel.”
This is already being seen as some travelers consider the environmental impact of their trip and opt for train travel or choose accommodation that may be more expensive but eco-friendly when visiting places most affected by climate change.
But governments can also play a role by providing incentives to choose more sustainable trips: In the Asian island nation of the Maldives, the $6 international arrival fee is reduced to $3 if visitors stay in an eco-friendly guesthouse.
“Tourism must evolve and become regenerative, as the current model is unsustainable,” Darrell Wade, co-founder of Intrepid, said in a statement. “We must recognize that the future must be different than usual and that the climate crisis is not a competitive advantage.”
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