The United Nations announced that over 50 governments have signed a declaration to make global tourism more climate-friendly, calling it a major achievement of the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan.

The signing of the U.N. declaration and accompanying initiatives set a strong precedent for integrating sustainability into tourism, reinforcing the industry’s responsibility in addressing climate change.

• For the first time, tourism has been incorporated into the U.N. Climate Change Conference Action Agenda. This marks the importance of the sector in discussions about climate change.
• The global tourism industry accounts for 3% of global GDP and is the source of 8.8% of greenhouse emissions, said Urosevic.
• The countries that signed the declaration on Enhanced Climate Action on Tourism have pledged to recognise the need to address tourism when drafting climate plans, such as their Nationally Determined Contributions. The next update of NDCs, in which governments describe policies to reduce emissions that cause global warming, are due in February."