CONTEXT
The tourism sector is highly vulnerable to climate change, and at the same time contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases, which cause global warming. According to UNWTO/ITF latest research, emissions from tourism are forecasted to increase by 25% by 2030 from 2016 levels. Therefore, the need to scale up climate action in tourism remains urgent and of utmost importance for the resilience of the sector.
Over the last two years, the tourism sector has increasingly come together to deliver the action necessary to address the shared challenge of climate change. As the voice of European Regions committed to sustainability, it is essential NECSTouR plays a key role.
Climate Action offers a huge strategic opportunity for the regions to show leadership, highlight existing good practices across our network and build on them to help address climate change in tourism and ensure our sector plays a key role in this journey. The solutions are good for our visitors, communities, destinations and our planet. Delivering them supports and can help drive our mission of destination competitiveness and sustainability.
In November 2021, NECSTouR was a founding signatory of the Glasgow Declaration for a Decade of Climate Action in Tourism. Launched at the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow, this initiative is now the largest and most representative coalition of stakeholders across tourism working together on climate action. All signatories support the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and reach Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050. They commit to delivering a Climate Action Plan within 12 months, focussed on five pathways for action - Measure, Decarbonise, Regenerate, Collaborate and Finance.
Earlier in 2021, NECSTouR joined the Tourism Declares community, recognising the urgent need to address climate change if we are to ensure the long-term survival of our industry and the many benefits it brings for businesses, visitors and communities. The same day, June 14 2021, the European Commission adopted a series of legislative proposals entitled ‘Fit for 55’, setting out how it intends to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared with 1990.
PURPOSE
Climate Action describes the efforts to measure and reduce GHG emissions and strengthen adaptive capacity to climate induced impacts, and these efforts are strategically embodied by the delivery of detailed Climate Action Plans.
This Climate Action Plan delivers on NECSTouR’s commitments as a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration, and aligns our actions with the EU Transition Pathway for Tourism* and ‘Fit for 55’.
The purpose of this Climate Action Plan is to support and accelerate climate action by European regional destinations.
*NECSTouR will officially commit to the TTP online survey on topics numbers 6, 8 and 12, directly in connection with the climate action plan presented in this document.
KEY OBJECTIVES
Objective 1
Support members to deliver climate action and develop Climate Action Plans, and promote members’ good practice.
Objective 2
Raise awareness within members on the relevance of EU Transition Pathway for Tourism and provide information and guidance to support its implementation.
Objective 3
Enable NECSTouR to measure, reduce, and mitigate organisational emissions.
KEY ACTIONS
In order to achieve our three objectives, the actions developed and implemented by NECSTouR will be focused on:
- Support NECSTouR members engaging in climate action at a regional level through an online Knowledge Hub.
- Promote members’ good practice.
- Facilitate NECSTouR and members’ advocacy and fundraising in EU Institutions.
- Enhance collaboration with partners, experts and within - and between - EU regions.
- Position NECSTouR as a connector between the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism and the implementation of the relevant EU Pathways.
- Publish commitments for NECSTouR at an organisational level.
- Track and report NECSTouR organisational and member progress in developing climate action aligned to the commitments of the Glasgow Declaration.
- Deliver on NECSTouR’s commitments made as a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration and Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency
As this is NECSTouR’s first Climate Action Plan, we have prioritised two initial Key Actions to be taken in year one, in order to get started on a multiyear strategy towards targets for 2030 and 2050.
KEY ACTION 1: LAUNCH CLIMATE ACTION KNOWLEDGE HUB
Our main focus for 2022-2023 is to support member efforts through the launch of an online Knowledge Hub at the NECSTouR.eu website (OBJECTIVE 1 and OBJECTIVE 2). This data-supported platform will support regional destination management and climate action by building a database of regularly updated / up to date guidance and information, including:
- Climate literacy and basic knowledge about climate change, biodiversity and regenerative practices as applicable to tourism.
- EU environmental regulations to increase understanding and support the implementation of the Pathway.
- Environmental data and indicators in coordination with ToT Lab to support the implementation of Climate Action Plans.
- Links to members’ published Climate Action Plans, as well as other relevant plans, to serve as a research tool and for promotion of member best practice.
- Green procurement implementation in tourism.
- Destination focussed, and Glasgow Declaration aligned, methodologies and tools for: - Assessing climate-related risks and issues - Measuring emissions of all greenhouse gases - Measuring resilience, regeneration and adaptation
- Green procurement implementation in tourism.
- Regular webinars featuring members, representatives of other destinations, global and regional experts in climate and tourism.
- Best practice database, with examples of regional climate action across Europe and the rest of the world as relevant to European regions.
To support the delivery of the Knowledge Hub and to ensure members are fully aware of how they can benefit, we will run a series of webinars across the year bringing in relevant sector experts to explore different thematic areas.
We will work with our members, and leverage our relationships across the EU and with the UNWTO, CPMR, Travel Foundation, ETOA and European institutions to source and present relevant and useful content.
KEY ACTION 2: PUBLISH ORGANISATIONAL EMISSIONS POLICIES
As a Supporter Organisation signatory to the Glasgow Declaration, our core focus is on supporting our members to engage in climate action. However, it is important that we lead by example and we also are committed to aligning our own organisational emissions.
In order to achieve this within the time frame of the Declaration’s commitments, and in order to support the delivery of OBJECTIVE 3, we will develop a policy over the following 12 months for measuring, reducing, compensating for and reporting our own operational emissions and those related to any events that we organise.
This policy will prioritise green procurement for all NECSTouR official activities, and will address compensation for residual emissions by financing Nature based Solutions in member regions,
News and Best Practices
| PRESS RELEASE | Regenerative Tourism Conference Report
In 2018, the Barcelona Declaration “Better Places to Live Better Places to Visit” was created from the willingness of NECSTouR members to respond to the residents’ concerns about the uses of territorial assets for tourism activity.
| PRESS RELEASE | Masterclass: Empowering Destination Leaders to Deliver Sustainability
NECSTouR and SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote will jointly organise a two-day masterclass on 14-16 March in Lanzarote
Masterclass: Empowering Destination Leaders to Deliver Sustainability
NECSTouR and SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote are committed to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable tourism governance, in line with both the European Tourism Agenda 2030 and the Glasgow targets.
NECSTouR permanent secretariat kindly welcomes our new project officer
Hello, Hallo, Salut, Hola, Ciao!
I am Justine Bauters, the new European Tourism Project Officer at NECSTouR. I will be supporting the team in a variety of tasks related to European Tourism projects.
My main tasks will consist of
Climate Action Plan Workshop
In the framework of the NECSTouR Climate Action Plan (CAP) strategic initiative, a workshop has been organised on the 22nd of September in Barcelona to support members to deliver climate action; promote good practices; provide information and guidance to support the implementation of the EU
Living Lab: NECSTouR Climate Action Planning Workshop
When: 22nd September, 14:30 – 16.00 CET – Barcelona
NECSTouR Activity Report 2021
In 2021, through working together with our members and partners, NECSTouR accomplished our strategic objectives and a variety of important achievements. Our Activity Report 2021 outlines this work and provides an overview of what that went into making 2021 another successful year for us.
Download the Activity Report 2021
The European Commission published the first pledges to the Tourism Transition Pathway
The Commission published a first summary of stakeholders committments to the Tourism Transition Pathway (TTP) to highlight interesting messages and great examples, including the one from NECSTouR and those Members Regions that already shared their committment to the TPP.
NECSTouR Climate Action Plan
The NECSTouR Climate Action Plan aims to support our network of members on the journey to zero emissions and tackling Climate Change. Here you can take a look at the published NECSTouR Climate Action plan.
Take a look at the plan here
NECSTouR Thematic Conference "Building tourism destinations’ resilience to respond to crisis: How do you recover competitiveness by regenerating your business model?"
In the framework of our Annual General Meeting 2022, NECSTouR organised a Thematic Conference on “Building tourism destinations’ resilience to respond to crisis: How do you recover competitiveness by regenerating your business model?”, hosted by the Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality on 1st of June 2022 in Ringkøbing.
NECSTouR and its member Regions’ co-implementation of the Tourism Transition Pathway
Following the publication by the European Commission in February of the Tourism Transition Pathway (TTP), and their recent invitation for us to express our concrete commitment by answering their call for commitments survey, on 11th May we organised a successful webinar "How NECSTouR and our Regions can Implement the Tourism Transition Pathway Through Interregional Cooperation".