The impact of Travel

The travel industry has grown intensively over the years with international tourist arrivals in 2018 totaling 1.4 billion (+6%), a figure that it was expected to reach two years later, according to the WTO January 2019 press release.  Stable fuel pricing means affordable air travel, and as connectivity improves in many destinations, source markets are increasingly diverse. The consequence of this is significant levels of pollution with high CO2 emissions.

While train travel would be the ideal mode of transportation, it is not necessarily viable over long distances due to time and logistics such as visas for every country traveled through and the need to change trains rather frequently. A new UN report suggests that while airplanes are increasingly fuel efficient, even if aviation meets its climate change targets, by 2050 aviation will have consumed 12% of the global carbon budget for 1.5C. And if it does not meet these targets? That consumption could be as much as 27%. One way to combat this is the use of biofuel.

Another culprit in global warming is the cruise industry which catered to over 26 million customers in 2018. Choosing cruise travel caused each passenger’s carbon footprint to triple. Moreover, these ships produce 15 gallons of hazardous chemical waste daily and use the dirtiest fuel. Cruise ships produce fumes and dump their trash, fuel and sewage in the ocean. Efforts are being made to power ships with electricity when they come to shore and to switch to cleaner fuels

While they are not yet widespread, sustainable cruises do exist and their numbers are growing, and Nordic countries are leading the way in this area.

Cruise line Hurtigruten uses hybrid ships, which are powered by a battery system. By 2021, Hurtigruten plans...