Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism

With the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place this week in Glasgow, the 50 Degrees North Group is proud to be a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. Destination protection is the shared responsibility of our industry, and the Glasgow Declaration seeks to unite the industry through supporting organisations to build an effective path forward.

With the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow, the 50 Degrees North Group are pleased to announce the signing of the Glasgow Declaration, formed collaboratively between the UNWTO, UNEP, VisitScotland, Tourism Declares and Travel Foundation, and uniting our sector in a shared commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, taking place in Glasgow (COP26), aims to be a ‘pivotal moment in the fight against climate change,’ poised to usher in a decade of united and urgent action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. For nearly 30 years, the UN has been bringing together almost every country at its annual climate summit called COP (‘Conference of the Parties’). It was here that the Paris Agreement was launched in 2015 and now, with the window quickly closing to meet the Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, the plans first presented in the Paris Agreement must be taken further.

The Declaration will be officially launched at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November 2021.

50 Degrees North commits to:

• Support the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and reach Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050;
• Deliver climate action plans within 12 months from becoming a signatory (or updating existing plans), and begin implementing them;
• Align plans with the five pathways of the Declaration (Measure, Decarbonise, Regenerate, Collaborate, Finance) to accelerate and co-ordinate climate action in tourism;
• Report publicly on an annual basis on progress against interim and long-term targets, as well as on actions being taken;
• Work in a collaborative spirit, sharing good practices and solutions, and disseminating information to encourage additional organisations to become signatories and supporting one another to reach targets as quickly as possible.

In order for communities to benefit from travel & tourism and vice versa, we must assure their health and protection, a critical fact that puts destination protection as the shared responsibility of our industry. While the climate emergency is very real, we know that it’s not too late to take action and change our course, though as the recent IPCC report highlighted, that window is closing. The Glasgow Declaration then, is a call for action from the tourism sector, one which seeks to unite the industry through supporting organisations to build an effective path forward – because declaring a commitment to climate action is meaningless unless followed with swift action.

50 Degrees North’s 5-point Climate Action Plan will outline a clear approach to achieving our goal of carbon neutrality that reflects the Glasgow Declaration’s five pathways to Measure, Decarbonise, Regenerate, Collaborate and Finance.