Tour Operators, both inbound and outbound, make choices on behalf of the travelers and holidaymakers for whom they provide transport services. This is the case both for the tours and excursions included in the package and in selecting and packaging the optional excursions and activities offered in the destination. On this panel, Intrepid will talk about how they decarbonised the trips they sell, we shall hear about how TO-OT Bus has decarbonised and from Much Better Adventures about how they have measured and managed the carbon emissions arising from their business.

Hotels and other types of accommodation are responsible for 2% of the 5% of the global CO2 emissions from the tourism sector (UNWTO). With expert panelists from major hospitality groups, we shall discuss best practices in reducing emissions in designing and building new hotels and retrofitting existing properties. Are zero-emissions hotels possible? Is the hospitality sector making progress fast enough to achieve the Paris targets?”

The problem is not flying. The problem is the fossil fuel that is used. The aviation industry needs to transition urgently to zero-carbon flying. Aviation is important to the outbound tourism industry of the developed world; it is vital to the livelihoods of families and the foreign exchange earnings of many Small Island Developing States and developing countries, nations without a domestic tourism industry. The latest research reveals that international aviation is responsible for 3.5% of anthropogenic climate forcing, less than Russia more than Japan. In March 2020, the respected German consultancy Roland Berger forecast that if other industries decarbonise in line with current projections, aviation could account for up to 24% of global emissions by 2050 unless there is a significant technological shift.

 

There is a debate about carbon offsetting and Sustainable Aviation Fuel from biofuels and waste. These are solutions favoured because they facilitate business as usual. They do not require a technological shift. In January this year, the Fuelling Flight Project, which includes easyJet, IAG, Air France, and KLM, pointing the “risk of massive capital investments in things that increase emissions compared to fossil fuels and/or that become stranded assets”. They called for higher sustainability requirements to be set by the European Commission.

 

We shall begin by reviewing Sustainable Aviation Fuel from biofuels and waste, battery-powered electric flight, and reforming Air Traffic Control to increase the efficiency of flight operations. Then we will look at the more radical alternative: Hydrogen. Hydrogen can fuel aircraft in two ways. Hydrogen can be burnt in an engine or used in a fuel cell that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water or to make drop-in synthetic sustainable aviation fuels (synfuels). Power-to-liquid fuels (PtL) or synfuels are drop-in replacements for fossil-based kerosene and require no significant aircraft or engine changes.

 

In September 2020, Airbus revealed three concepts for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft which could be flying by 2035. We have brought together a panel to discuss the prospects for hydrogen-powered flight, the challenges and opportunities.