Introducing a series of ITT conference sessions exploring travel’s journey towards sustainability on Thursday (16 June), ITT board member Fiona Jeffery OBE – founder of the Just a Drop charity – gave a stark overview of the world future generations will inherit if humanity doesn’t address its climate issues.

Travel and tourism, said Jeffery, is currently responsible for about 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, meaning it cannot afford not to be part of the solution if the world really is to meet its 2050 climate targets.

"It’s mission critical the travel industry plays its part," Jeffery told delegates after running through the likely effect of global warming over the next 50 years through to a catastrophic 4C increase in global temperatures by 2075.

"I’m not scaremongering, this is happening," she said. "Unless we reduce [carbon emission] now, we are sleepwalking into our own destruction. And this is all happening on our watch."

Jeffery revealed ITT worked with Trees4Travel to measure the climate impact of the 2022 conference in Istanbul in terms of flights, accommodation meals and meeting room use – and then to offset it.

She added that in future, she hoped people would take responsibility for their own carbon footprints. "It’s a first step for ITT in terms of recognising the carbon impact of the conference," she said.

Speaking alongside Jeffery, Charles Perry – founder of SecondNature and partner at Rise – said the first step for travel businesses was to join the more than 500 travel and tourism organisations that have already signed the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Change. "If you haven’t done that, it’s frankly a bit embarrassing," he said.

The declaration is a commitment to halving emissions over the next decade, and to achieving net-zero by 2050 at the latest. Perry was also involved in the effort at Cop26 last year to encourage the airline sector to make a net-zero by 2050 pledge, first through adoption of sustainable aviation fuels and then electric and hybrid technologies.

‘Radical collaboration’

He continued by reiterating the importance of businesses measuring their carbon footprint. "You can only manage what you measure," he advised delegates, stressing that once businesses become aware of where they are today, they can then set targets to hit a 50% reduction by 2030.

"Everyone needs to be involved, no matter whether you think you have a role to play or not," said Perry. "We need to take the next step beyond fossil fuels, we need to hasten that. We can’t stay addicted to what is killing us. We need to abolish combustion of fossil fuels. We need radical collaboration on this."