Abta has partnered with financial and consulting specialist Deloitte on a project to help the association’s members deal with the changes needed to tackle the climate emergency.
Over the next year, the partners will help Abta members understand climate change, what decarbonisation looks like across the industry – for hotels, aviation, cruise, ground transport and tourist destinations – and how their businesses can deliver “meaningful change”.
The project will build on the work from Abta’s Tourism for Good report and was launched on Thursday (November 11) at the association’s Decarbonising Tourism event, attended by 150 people from across the industry.
Mark Tanzer, Abta chief executive, said: “Climate change is a global threat and the travel industry, along with all other businesses and government, has an important role to play in reducing carbon emissions.
“We have seen some good progress in recent years – including progress towards the development of sustainable aviation fuels and a number of businesses across travel and tourism setting targets and reporting carbon reductions, but that work needs to be scaled up and continue as a matter of urgency.
More: Industry leaders confirmed for Travel Weekly Sustainability Summit
International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition launches at Cop26
“Through this collaboration we want to further develop the industry’s understanding of climate change and engage senior leaders in what they need to be thinking about for their businesses and the meaningful actions they can take.”
Alistair Pritchard, lead partner for travel and aviation at Deloitte, added: “With the imperative to transition to net zero we are collaborating with Abta on driving sustainability and addressing climate change in the sector.
“We recognise that the industry has been through an extremely challenging period and recovery is an immediate focus, but we hope we will be able to support Abta members and the wider travel eco-system understand and tackle the transformative changes that businesses need to undertake.
“Our collaboration will involve bringing greater clarity for the sector on the changes required to help business leaders plot their course to a more sustainable future.”
Representatives from Abta and Deloitte will also be speaking at Travel Weekly’s first Sustainability Summit, which will take place in central London on November 24. The half-day conference will be hosted by Deloitte.
Picture by Scharfsinn/Shutterstock