WTTC emissions website - how accurate?

A new website launched by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted by the tourism industry uses a methodology that appears to paint an unrealistic picture of each country’s actual emissions, putting developing countries at a disadvantage.

Developed in collaboration with Oxford Economics, Accenture and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism, the WTTC’s website aims to hold the tourism industry accountable for its GHG emissions by using a metric that calculates GHG produced by travel and tourism against the sector's contribution to GDP (in US dollars).

This method of calculating environmental impact, which was intended for use in the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, has already been criticised by the UN, the London School of Economics and the South African government when the EU attempted to impose a levy on imports based on this measurement of carbon intensity. Experts said that the levy punished low-income countries, which are responsible for only a fraction of GHGs in the atmosphere.

The results of calculations using this method will be that developing countries in Africa, and elsewhere, will be seen on the website by potential tourists as more environmentally damaging destinations with a higher GHG intensity. The truth could be the opposite.

Using this methodology, developed destinations such as the UK, the US and Europe might appear to be much less environmentally harmful because emissions are offset by larger tourism-generated GDPs, delivering lower GHG intensity scores. Ironically, the total GHG emissions produced by these regions are exponentially higher than those in developing countries:

• Mauritius’ tourism industry generated 500 million kg of CO₂ equivalent gasses and contributed US$500 million (R9,6 billion) to the country’s GDP. The GHG intensity score for Mauritius is 1,34.
• Seychelles’ tourism generated 310 million kg of CO₂ equivalent gasses and contributed $300 million (R5,7 billion) to GDP, resulting in a greenhouse gas intensity score of 1,18.
• Tanzanian tourism generated 3,5 billion kg of CO₂ equivalent gasses and contributed $4 billion (R77 billion) to GDP, giving the East African nation a GHG intensity score of 1,08.

By comparison:

• Tourism in the US generated 353 billion kg of CO₂ equivalent gas, but contributed $1,2 trillion (R23 trillion) to the GDP, giving the US a low score of 0,38.
• The UK’s tourism industry generated 36 billion kg of CO₂ equivalent gasses and contributed $157 billion (R3 trillion) to GDP, giving it a score of 0,3.
• Europe’s tourism as a region generated 512 billion kg of CO₂ equivalent gasses and $1,4 trillion (R27 trillion) in GDP, giving the continent a GHG intensity of 0,44.