New research has been published ahead of COP26 to inform discussions on pathways to meet the SGD Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. The report considers how the airline industry can be more accountable for its carbon footprint and recommends stricter oversight of the quality of the industry’s market-based mechanisms.
As The Independent’s new travel editor, Helen Coffey is conscious of how tourism can be a force for good – or for evil – when it comes to people and planet. They are now pledging to do things differently from now on, by prioritising trips whose net positive effects outweigh the negative impacts and companies that are leading the way in cutting their carbon outputs and changing the travel industry for the better.
By leveraging Colombia’s extraordinary biodiversity, there is a considerable opportunity for the development of Colombia’s ecotourism subsector. Ecotourism has the potential to provide alternatives to coca production and new livelihood options for former militants. However, it is essential this is developed alongside infrastructure projects and social schemes.
Even if all current Paris agreement climate pledges are met, the world is still set to see temperature rises of about 2.4C by the end of the century. Across sectors, companies have helped drive climate chaos. Now, at least a fifth of the world’s 2,000 largest public companies have made some kind of “net zero” pledge to cancel out their carbon emissions. However, monitoring their effectiveness can be hard.
The announcement of new additions to the UNESCO list can be a cause for excitement, but 2021’s
has been more dramatic than most. With all the fuss around who will make the cut and who won't, there's one question that hasn't been answered: Does UNESCO designation really make a difference with travellers?
