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| Curse you, Rick Steves! SCIENCE reports : Tourism is eight times worse for the planet than previously believed
Going on vacation may be fun for you, but it’s not great for Earth. The carbon footprint of global tourism is about eight times larger than previously recognized and accounts for about one-twelfth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, a new study suggests.
Previous analyses typically tallied only carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions due to air travel. But the new study also includes emissions of CO2 and other planet-warming gases due to the construction and maintenance of such infrastructure as hotels and airports, as well as emissions associated with tourists’ purchases of food, beverages, and souvenirs.
Using data collected by and within 160 countries, the researchers estimate that global tourism in 2013 accounted for greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 4.5 billion metric tons of CO2, or about 8% of global emissions that year. Air travel accounted for only about 12% of that total, the team reports today in Nature Climate Change.
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