Cinco consejos para vivir de forma más sostenible - UNEP
Para hacer frente a estos problemas, es necesario que cada persona introduzca cambios sostenibles en su estilo de vida cotidiana, afirman ...
8% de todas las emisiones
La forma en que las personas emplean su tiempo libre -incluidas las actividades turísticas y recreativas- repercute significativamente en el medio ambiente. Las personas pueden actuar para cambiar a actividades de ocio más sostenibles permaneciendo en su localidad y apoyando a las empresas cercanas. El sector turístico representa alrededor del <anchor>8% de todas las emisiones</anchor>. En los viajes largos, los expertos aconsejan prolongar la estancia, comer en el lugar y evitar los productos desechables y optar por los reutilizables, incluidos los cubiertos.
The carbon footprint of global tourism | Nature Climate Change
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.

Advertisement

- Article
- Published: 07 May 2018

# The carbon footprint of global tourism

Show authors

### Subjects

This article has been updated

## Abstract

Tourism contributes significantly to global gross domestic product, and is forecast to grow at an annual 4%, thus outpacing many other economic sectors. However, global carbon emissions related to tourism are currently not well quantified. Here, we quantify tourism-related global carbon flows between 160 countries, and their carbon footprints under origin and destination accounting perspectives. We find that, between 2009 and 2013, tourism’s global carbon footprint has increased from 3.9 to 4.5 GtCO2e, four times more than previously estimated, accounting for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Transport, shopping and food are significant contributors. The majority of this footprint is exerted by and in high-income countries. The rapid increase in tourism demand is effectively outstripping the decarbonization of tourism-related technology. We project that, due to its high carbon intensity and continuing growth, tourism will constitute a growing part of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

## Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

$29.99 / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 12 print issues and online access

$209.00 per year

only $17.42 per issue

Buy this article

- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

### Additional access options:

Fig. 1: Carbon footprint measures of selected top-ranking countries for 2013.



Fig. 2: Top bilateral embodied carbon movements.



Fig. 3: Top bilateral embodied carbon movements to and/or from Europe.



Fig. 4: Breakdown of the tourism carbon footprint into purchased commodities and emitting industries, and into high-, middle- and low-income countries.



Fig. 5: Affluence and technology as drivers of the carbon footprint of global tourism for the RBA perspective.



### Similar content being viewed by others



### Studying tourism development and its impact on carbon emissions

ArticleOpen access29 March 2024



### Understanding the large role of long-distance travel in carbon emissions from passenger travel

ArticleOpen access02 July 2024



### A qualitative dynamic analysis of the relationship between tourism and human development

ArticleOpen access02 September 2024

## Change history

- ### 23 May 2018

In the version of this Article originally published, in the penultimate paragraph of the section “Gas species and supply chains”, in the sentence “In this assessment, the contribution of air travel emissions amounts to 20% (0.9 GtCO2e) of tourism’s global carbon footprint...” the values should have read “12% (0.55 GtCO2e)”; this error has now been corrected, and Supplementary Table 9 has been amended to clarify this change.

## References

1. Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact 2017 (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2017); https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regions-2017/world2017.pdf

2. UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2016 Edition (World Tourism Organization, 2016); http://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284418145

3. Gössling, S. Global environmental consequences of tourism. Glob. Environ. Change 12, 283–302 (2002).

   Google Scholar

4. Scott, D., Gössling, S. & Hall, C. M. International tourism and climate change. WIREs Clim. Change 3, 213–232 (2012).

   Google Scholar

5. Puig, R. et al. Inventory analysis and carbon footprint of coastland-hotel services: a Spanish case study. Sci. Total Environ. 595, 244–254 (2017).

   CAS Google Scholar

6. El Hanandeh, A. Quantifying the carbon footprint of religious tourism: the case of Hajj. J. Clean. Prod. 52, 53–60 (2013).

   Google Scholar

7. Pereira, R. P. T., Ribeiro, G. M. & Filimonau, V. The carbon footprint appraisal of local visitor travel in Brazil: a case of the Rio de Janeiro–São Paulo itinerary. J. Clean. Prod. 141, 256–266 (2017).

   CAS Google Scholar

8. Munday, M., Turner, K. & Jones, C. Accounting for the carbon associated with regional tourism consumption. Tour. Manag. 36, 35–44 (2013).

   Google Scholar

9. Sun, Y.-Y. A framework to account for the tourism carbon footprint at island destinations. Tour. Manage. 45, 16–27 (2014).

   Google Scholar

10. Cadarso, M. Á., Gómez, N., López, L. A. & Tobarra, M. A. Calculating tourism ’ s carbon footprint: measuring the impact of investments. J. Clean. Prod. 111, 529–537 (2016).

    Google Scholar

11. Cadarso, M.-Á., Gómez, N., López, L.-A., TobarraM.-Á. & Zafrilla, J.-E. Quantifying Spanish tourism ’ s carbon footprint: the contributions of residents and visitors: a longitudinal study. J. Sustain. Tour. 23, 922–946 (2015).

    Google Scholar

12. Becken, S. & Patterson, M. Measuring national carbon dioxide emissions from tourism as a key step towards achieving sustainable tourism. J. Sustain. Tour. 14, 323–338 (2006).

    Google Scholar

13. Dwyer, L., Forsyth, P., Spurr, R. & Hoque, S. Estimating the carbon footprint of Australian tourism. J. Sustain. Tour. 18, 355–376 (2010).

    Google Scholar

14. Sharp, H., Grundius, J. & Heinonen, J. Carbon footprint of inbound tourism to Iceland: a consumption-based life-cycle assessment including direct and indirect emissions. Sustainability 8, 1147 (2016).

    Google Scholar

15. Luo, F., Becken, S. & Zhong, Y. Changing travel patterns in China and ‘carbon footprint’ implications for a domestic tourist destination. Tour. Manag. 65, 1–13 (2018).

    Google Scholar

16. Climate Change and Tourism—Responding to Global Challenges (World Tourist Organisation, United Nations Environment Programme, World Meteorological Organisation, 2008); http://sdt.unwto.org/sites/all/files/docpdf/climate2008.pdf

17. Peeters, P. & Dubois, G. Tourism travel under climate change mitigation constraints. J. Transp. Geogr. 18, 447–457 (2010).

    Google Scholar

18. Gössling, S. & Peeters, P. Assessing tourism ’ s global environmental impact 1900–2050. J. Sustain. Tour. 23, 639–659 (2015).

    Google Scholar

19. Kander, A., Jiborn, M., Moran, D. D. & Wiedmann, T. O. National greenhouse-gas accounting for effective climate policy on international trade. Nat. Clim. Change 5, 431–435 (2015).

    Google Scholar

20. ICAO Environmental Report 2016—Aviation and Climate Change (International Civil Aviation Organization, 2016).

21. Lee, D. S. et al. Transport impacts on atmosphere and climate: aviation. Atmos. Environ. 44, 4678–4734 (2010).

    CAS Google Scholar

22. Perch-Nielsen, S., Sesartic, A. & Stucki, M. The greenhouse gas intensity of the tourism sector: the case of Switzerland. Environ. Sci. Policy 13, 131–140 (2010).

    CAS Google Scholar

23. Peters, G., Minx, J., Weber, C. & Edenhofer, O. Growth in emission transfers via international trade from 1990 to 2008. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 8903–8908 (2011).

    CAS Google Scholar

24. Malik, A., Lan, J. & Lenzen, M. Trends in global greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2010. Environ. Sci. Technol. 50, 4722–4730 (2016).

    CAS Google Scholar

25. GDP Per Capita, Current Prices (International Monetary Fund, 2017); http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPDPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD

26. Annual Energy Outlook 2017 With Projections to 2050 (US Energy Information Administration, 2017); https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/0383(2017).pdf.pdf)

27. OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050 (OECD Environment Directorate, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, 2011); https://www.oecd.org/env/cc/49082173.pdf

28. Wier, M., Lenzen, M., Munksgaard, J. & Smed, S. Effects of household consumption patterns on CO2 requirements. Econ. Syst. Res. 13, 259–274 (2001).

    Google Scholar

29. Lenzen, M. et al. A comparative multivariate analysis of household energy requirements in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, India and Japan. Energy 31, 181–207 (2006).

    Google Scholar

30. Lenzen, M., Dey, C. & Foran, B. Energy requirements of Sydney households. Ecol. Econ. 49, 375–399 (2004).

    Google Scholar

31. Garin-Munoz, T. & Amaral, T. P. An econometric model for international tourism flows to Spain. Appl. Econ. Lett. 7, 525–529 (2000).

    Google Scholar

32. Lim, C., Min, J. C. H. & McAleer, M. Modelling income effects on long and short haul international travel from Japan. Tour. Manage. 29, 1099–1109 (2008).

    Google Scholar

33. Song, H. & Wong, K. K. Tourism demand modeling: a time-varying parameter approach. J. Travel Res. 42, 57–64 (2003).

    Google Scholar

34. Cohen, C. A. M. J., Lenzen, M. & Schaeffer, R. Energy requirements of households in Brazil. Energy Policy 55, 555–562 (2005).

    Google Scholar

35. Mishra, S. S. & Bansal, V. Role of source–destination proximity in international inbound tourist arrival: empirical evidences from India. Asia Pac. J. Tour. Res. 22, 540–553 (2017).

    Google Scholar

36. Wong, I. A., Fong, L. H. N. & LawR. A longitudinal multilevel model of tourist outbound travel behavior and the dual-cycle model. J. Travel Res. 55, 957–970 (2016).

    Google Scholar

37. Dubois, G. & Ceron, J. P. Tourism/leisure greenhouse gas emissions forecasts for 2050: factors for change in France. J. Sustain. Tour. 14, 172–191 (2006).

    Google Scholar

38. Filimonau, V., Dickinson, J. & Robbins, D. The carbon impact of short-haul tourism: a case study of UK travel to southern France using life cycle analysis. J. Clean. Prod. 64, 628–638 (2014).

    Google Scholar

39. Gössling, S., Scott, D. & Hall, C. M. Inter-market variability in CO2 emission-intensities in tourism: implications for destination marketing and carbon management. Tour. Manage. 46, 203–212 (2015).

    Google Scholar

40. Gössling, S. et al. The eco-efficiency of tourism. Ecol. Econ. 54, 417–434 (2005).

    Google Scholar

41. Hatfield-Dodds, S. et al. Australia is ‘free to choose’ economic growth and falling environmental pressures. Nature 527, 49–53 (2015).

    CAS Google Scholar

42. Lenzen, M., Malik, A. & Foran, B. How challenging is decoupling for Australia?. J. Clean. Prod. 139, 796–798 (2016).

    Google Scholar

43. Gössling., S. Sustainable tourism development in developing countries: some aspects of energy use. J. Sustain. Tour. 8, 410–425 (2000).

    Google Scholar

44. Székely, T. Hungary plans ‘major touristic developments’ to double income from foreign tourism. Hungary Today (13 February 2017); http://hungarytoday.hu/news/hungary-plans-several-major-touristic-developments-double-income-foreign-tourism-45636

45. Nepal unveils plans to double tourist arrival. Nepal24Hours (12 December 2012); http://www.nepal24hours.com/nepal-unveils-plans-to-double-tourist-arrival

46. Murai, S. Japan doubles overseas tourist target for 2020. Japan Times (30 March 2016); https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/30/national/japan-doubles-overseas-tourist-target-2020/#.Wh_XplWWapo

47. McElroy, J. L. Small island tourist economies across the life cycle. Asia. Pac. Viewp. 47, 61–77 (2006).

    Google Scholar

48. Lenzen, M. Sustainable island businesses: a case study of Norfolk Island. J. Clean. Prod. 16, 2018–2035 (2008).

    CAS Google Scholar

49. de Bruijn, K., Dirven, R., Eijgelaar, E. & Peeters, P. Travelling Large in 2013: The Carbon Footprint of Dutch Holidaymakers in 2013 and the Development Since 2002 (NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, 2014).

50. Sun, Y. -Y. Decomposition of tourism greenhouse gas emissions: revealing the dynamics between tourism economic growth, technological efficiency, and carbon emissions. Tour. Manage. 55, 326–336 (2016).

    Google Scholar

51. Wilkinson, P. F. Island tourism: sustainable perspectives. Ann. Tour. Res. 39, 505–506 (2012).

    Google Scholar

52. Tourism Statistics (World Tourism Organization, 2017); http://www.e-unwto.org/loi/unwtotfb

53. Lenzen, M., Kanemoto, K., Moran, D. & Geschke, A. Mapping the structure of the world economy. Environ. Sci. Technol. 46, 8374–8381 (2012).

    CAS Google Scholar

54. Lenzen, M., Moran, D., Kanemoto, K. & Geschke, A. Building EORA: a global multi-region input–output database at high country and sector resolution. Econ. Syst. Res. 25, 20–49 (2013).

    Google Scholar

55. Leontief, W. W. & Strout, A. A. in Structural Interdependence and Economic Development (ed. Barna, T.) 119–149 (Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1963).

56. Oita, A. et al. Substantial nitrogen pollution embedded in international trade. Nat. Geosci. 9, 111–115 (2016).

    CAS Google Scholar

57. Feng, K., Davis, S. J., Sun, L. & Hubacek, K. Drivers of the US CO2 emissions 1997–2013. Nat. Commun. 6, 7714 (2015).

    CAS Google Scholar

58. Steinberger, J. K., Roberts, J. T., Peters, G. P. & Baiocchi, G. Pathways of human development and carbon emissions embodied in trade. Nat. Clim. Change 2, 81–85 (2012).

    CAS Google Scholar

59. Lenzen, M. et al. International trade drives biodiversity threats in developing nations. Nature 486, 109–112 (2012).

    CAS Google Scholar

60. Lin, J. et al. Global climate forcing of aerosols embodied in international trade. Nat. Geosci. 9, 790 (2016).

    CAS Google Scholar

61. Dalin, C., Wada, Y., Kastner, T. & Puma, M. J. Groundwater depletion embedded in international food trade. Nature 543, 700 (2017).

    CAS Google Scholar

62. Zhang, Q. et al. Transboundary health impacts of transported global air pollution and international trade. Nature 543, 705 (2017).

    CAS Google Scholar

63. Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact Research Methodology (World Travel & Tourism Council, Oxford Economics, 2017); https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/2017-documents/2017_methodology-final.pdf

64. Leontief, W. Input–Output Economics (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1966).

65. Dixon, R. Inter-industry transactions and input–output analysis. Aust. Econ. Rev. 3, 327–336 (1996).

    Google Scholar

66. Munksgaard, J. & Pedersen, K. A. CO2 accounts for open economies: producer or consumer responsibility? Energy Policy 29, 327–334 (2001).

    Google Scholar

67. Kanemoto, K. & Murray, J. in The Sustainability Practitioner’s Guide to Input–Output Analysis (eds Murray, J. & Wood, R.) 167–178 (Common Ground, Champaign, 2010).

68. Kanemoto, K., Lenzen, M., Peters, G. P., Moran, D. & Geschke, A. Frameworks for comparing emissions associated with production, consumption and International trade. Environ. Sci. Technol. 46, 172–179 (2012).

    CAS Google Scholar

69. Waugh, F. V. Inversion of the Leontief matrix by power series. Econometrica 18, 142–154 (1950).

    Google Scholar

70. Lenzen, M. et al. The Global MRIO Lab—charting the world economy. Econ. Syst. Res. 29, 158–186 (2017).

    Google Scholar

71. Systems of National Accounts (International Monetary Fund, Commission of the European Communities-Euro-Stat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Bank, United Nations, 1993).

72. TSA Data Around the World: Worldwide Summary (World Tourism Organization, 2010).

73. Tourism Statistics 2009–2013 (World Tourism Organization, 2009–2013).

74. Chasapopoulos, P., den Butter, F. A. & Mihaylov, E. Demand for tourism in Greece: a panel data analysis using the gravity model. Int. J. Tour. Policy 5, 173–191 (2014).

    Google Scholar

75. Morley, C., Rosselló, J. & Santana-Gallego, M. Gravity models for tourism demand: theory and use. Ann. Tour. Res. 48, 1–10 (2014).

    Google Scholar

76. Lloyd, S. M. & Ries, R. Characterizing, propagating, and analyzing uncertainty in life-cycle assessment: a survey of quantitative approaches. J. Indust. Ecol. 11, 161–179 (2007).

    Google Scholar

77. Imbeault-Tétreault, H., Jolliet, O., Deschênes, L. & Rosenbaum, R. K. Analytical propagation of uncertainty in life cycle assessment using matrix formulation. J. Indust. Ecol. 17, 485–492 (2013).

    Google Scholar

78. Lenzen, M. Aggregation versus disaggregation in input-output analysis of the environment. Econ. Syst. Res 23, 73–89 (2011).

    Google Scholar

79. Bullard, C. W. & Sebald, A. V. Effects of parametric uncertainty and technological change on input-output models. Rev. Econ. Stat. 59, 75–81 (1977).

    Google Scholar

80. Bullard, C. W. & Sebald, A. V. Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis of input-output models. Rev. Econ. Stat. 70, 708–712 (1988).

    Google Scholar

81. Nansai, K., Tohno, S. & Kasahara, M. Uncertainty of the embodied CO2 emission intensity and reliability of life cycle inventory analysis by input-output approach (in Japanese). Energy Resour. 22, (2001).

82. Yoshida, Y. et al. Reliability of LCI considering the uncertainties of energy consumptions in input-output analyses. Appl. Energy 73, 71–82 (2002).

    CAS Google Scholar

83. Lenzen, M., Wood, R. & Wiedmann, T. Uncertainty analysis for multi-region input-output models — a case study of the UK’s carbon footprint. Econ. Syst. Res 22, 43–63 (2010).

    Google Scholar

## Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Australian Research Council through its Discovery Projects DP0985522 and DP130101293, the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources project (NeCTAR) through its Industrial Ecology Virtual Laboratory, and the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology (no. 105-2410-H-006-055-MY3). The authors thank S. Juraszek for expertly managing the Global IELab’s advanced computation requirements, and C. Jarabak for help with collecting data.

## Author information

### Authors and Affiliations

1. ISA, School of Physics A28, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Manfred Lenzen, Futu Faturay, Arne Geschke & Arunima Malik

2. Department of Transportation & Communication Management Science, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan, Republic of China

Ya-Yen Sun & Yuan-Peng Ting

3. UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Ya-Yen Sun

4. Fiscal Policy Agency, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia

Futu Faturay

5. Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Arunima Malik

Authors

1. Manfred Lenzen

2. Ya-Yen Sun

3. Futu Faturay

4. Yuan-Peng Ting

5. Arne Geschke

6. Arunima Malik

### Contributions

Y.-Y.S. and M.L. conceived and designed the experiments. M.L., Y.-Y.S., F.F., Y.-P.T., A.G. and A.M. performed the experiments. F.F., Y.-P.T., M.L. and Y.-Y.S. analysed the data. Y.-P.T., A.G., Y.-Y.S. and M.L. contributed materials/analysis tools. M.L., Y.-Y.S. and A.M. wrote the paper.

### Corresponding author

## Ethics declarations

### Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

## Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

## Supplementary information

### Supplementary Information

Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Notes, Supplementary Data, Supplementary Results, Supplementary Figures 1–13, Supplementary Tables 1–14, Supplementary Discussion and Supplementary References

## Rights and permissions

## About this article

### Cite this article

Lenzen, M., Sun, YY., Faturay, F. et al. The carbon footprint of global tourism.
Nature Clim Change 8, 522–528 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0141-x

- Received: 05 December 2017

- Accepted: 20 March 2018

- Published: 07 May 2018

- Issue Date: June 2018

- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0141-x

### Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Get shareable link

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Copy to clipboard

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

## This article is cited by

Nature Sustainability (2024)

Scientific Reports (2024)

Scientific Reports (2024)

Nature Climate Change (2024)

Environmental Management (2024)

## Associated content

Collection

### Carbon Accounting

Collection

### The Living Ocean

Advertisement

## Explore content

## About the journal

## Publish with us

## Search

Search articles by subject, keyword or author

Show results fromAll journalsThis journal

Search

### Quick links

Nature Climate Change ( Nat. Clim. Chang.)
ISSN1758-6798 (online)
ISSN1758-678X (print)

## nature.com sitemap

### About Nature Portfolio

### Discover content

### Publishing policies

### Author & Researcher services

### Libraries & institutions

### Advertising & partnerships

### Professional development

### Regional websites

© 2024 Springer Nature Limited

Close bannerClose

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Email address

Sign up

I agree my information will be processed in accordance with the Nature and Springer Nature Limited Privacy Policy.

Close bannerClose