SINGAPORE, 14 November 2024: Tourism’s place in global climate action will be centre stage on 20 November at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, as part of the COP29 Presidential Initiatives.
For the first time, the UN Climate Change Conference of the parties will welcome Tourism Ministers, placing the sector firmly within the COP29 Action Agenda.
UN Tourism reported in its latest update on COP29, saying the inclusion of tourism leaders worldwide was welcomed by the G20 Tourism Ministers Meeting in Belem, Brazil.
It provides a high-level platform for dialogue, initiated and led by the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism).
This achievement reflects the leading role played by UN Tourism in a shift for a science-based approach to guide the sector on tourism climate action and builds on the efforts of the Glasgow Declaration Initiative, which is implemented within the framework of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme.
The collaboration of committed Member States and tourism stakeholders and the support provided by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), have been instrumental in achieving this landmark momentum for the tourism sector at COP29.
Scheduled for 20 November, the First Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action in Tourism will be followed by three high-level thematic roundtables addressing three hot topics: measurement and decarbonisation, regeneration (adaptation) and finance and innovative solutions; the outcome will build towards a bold tourism climate agenda for good UN Tourism noted.
Access the Programme of Events here.
Baku Declaration: Tourism steps up its ambitions
The COP29 Presidency will lead the launch of the Baku Declaration on Enhanced Climate Action in Tourism. The Declaration is a call to action in response to the need to develop more economy-wide Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, as called for by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, UNFCCC’s Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, and UN Tourism Secretary–General Zurab Pololikashvili.
In Baku, government representatives will be encouraged to endorse the Declaration and set out their plans to connect tourism policies and efforts with national climate goals and the UN Climate Change Agenda. UN Tourism and the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan will release a Position Paper on Exploring Opportunities to Integrate Tourism in NDCs in a nationally determined manner for public consultation.
The full text of the Baku Declaration is available here (see Annex 9 on page 20).
Boosting Engagement and Accountability
Two of UN Tourism’s flagship sustainability initiatives will also feature in the Thematic Day, with stakeholders urged to take action.
The Glasgow Declaration Initiative on Climate Action in Tourism is a voluntary commitment launched at COP26, implemented within the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme framework, and recognised as a Global Climate Action initiative by UNFCCC. At COP29, the Glasgow Declaration Initiative will be given fresh impetus to include additional signatories, especially focusing on its positioning as a tool to support the implementation of national climate policies through tourism climate action structured around five strategic pathways: measurement, decarbonisation, regeneration/adaptation, collaboration, and finance.
To join the Glasgow Declaration Initiative and become part of a multi-stakeholder network of over 900 organisations collectively working on climate action, please visit Glasgow Declaration Initiative page.
Also in Baku, the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST), adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in February 2024, will be formally acknowledged as the tool to measure the sector’s climate action impacts.
“The MST Framework moves beyond GDP to include environmental data, such as GHG emissions and energy use. In recognition of this, MST will be positioned in its capacity to drive the production of more trustworthy, country-owned and internationally comparable data on the impact of tourism on climate change, laying the necessary foundation for progress in the mitigation of tourism-related GHG emissions and energy efficiency,” the UN Tourism statement explained.
