The message was debated during a panel discussion at Abta’s Decarbonising Tourism webinar on Thursday (11 November), moderated by the organisation’s head of sustainability, Clare Jenkinson.
She was joined by World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) director of sustainable development Dirk Glaesser, WTTC director of sustainability Christopher Imbsen, and Deloitte director of sustainability Emily Cromwell.
Together, the panel agreed travel business must work together as a cohesive "eco-system" to ensure no one is left behind and that the industry transitions as one to a more sustainable footing allowing it to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Cromwell said the first step for companies looking to make an environmental difference is to "understand the context of their business in the wider world".
"Sustainability is no longer a campaign," she warned. "It is absolutely an existential need for businesses moving into the future. Understanding that is the absolute imperative in order to build a robust sustainability strategy that you’re going to be able to execute.’
She said the sustainability goals currently being set by companies and governments would be "critical" for the sector, and would only be accomplished through a united effort to create something more akin to an "eco-system".
"You’re going to need to work with your peers, your supply chain and you’re probably going to need to work with entities adjacent to the sector like your cloud provider, or retail businesses."
Glaesser echoed Cromwell’s argument, and further called on global businesses to begin measuring their carbon output so they can guide and manage their sustainability goals in a "meaningful" way. "We have to start somewhere," he said. "That is at the very, very heart of the discussion.
"We see these ways of measuring [carbon impact] emerging from those who are committed. Then, at the next level, we have a global discussion as to what the most practical measurements are, and then we come to a standardisation question."
Glaesser also highlighted how the UNWTO has urged global companies to be more "ambitious" when it came to setting sustainability goals, a message echoed by the WTTC after it launched its net-zero roadmap for the travel industry on Tuesday (9 November).
Imbsen added: "The roadmap lays out a pathway to net-zero for the sector as a whole by 2050, and to do so, it includes a status-quo overview of climate actions in the sector, it identifies roadblocks and levers for decarbonisation, and it offers decarbonisation corridors for businesses.
"Certain industries can achieve net-zero even before 2050 if more ambitious targets are set and different decarbonisation policies are followed, and this is absolutely necessary if we are to start decarbonising already as a sector."
