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Global tourism takes a climate-conscious turn as 50+ nations sign a UN pact at COP29 in Baku, pledging greener practices.
BAKU (Reuters) - More than 50 governments have signed a U.N. declaration to make tourism around the globe more climate friendly, the United Nations said on Wednesday, in what it hailed as a major achievement of the climate summit in Azerbaijan.
"At COP29 we have achieved today an historic milestone by being included in the UN Climate Change Conference Action Agenda for the first time," U.N. Executive Director for Tourism Zoritsa Urosevic told a news conference.
The global tourism industry accounts for 3% of global GDP and is the source of 8.8% of greenhouse emissions, said Urosevic.
The countries that signed the declaration on Enhanced Climate Action on Tourism have pledged to recognise the need to address tourism when drafting climate plans, such as their Nationally Determined Contributions. The next update of NDCs, in which governments describe policies to reduce emissions that cause global warming, are due in February.
Tourism often accounts for a large share of a government's hard currency revenues, particularly in emerging countries, and can itself be highly exposed to climate events such as hurricanes, heatwaves and droughts.
"We now understand that the future of our business depends on the sustainability of our actions today," said Kanan Gasimov, head of administration at Azerbaijan's tourism agency.
The declaration was accompanied by a number of other initiatives, such as a framework presented by hotel industry body World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, aimed at measuring and reporting data such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, waste and energy usage across the sector.
The collated data would help the tourism industry and travellers understand their impact, said CEO Glenn Mandziuk.
"We are an industry that has a vested interest in the protection of each destination," Mandziuk said on the sidelines of the meeting in Baku. "We have to have a conversation where we can play a bigger role."
The group represents 55,000 hotels totalling more than 7 million rooms and counts big names such as Accor, Hilton and Marriott among its members.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Azerbaijan is stepping up its renewable energy ambitions with plans to develop eight new solar and wind plants by 2027, backed by $2.8 billion in investment and aimed at exceeding its 2030 climate targets ahead of schedule.
On the second day of Baku Climate Action Week (BCAW), attention centred on strengthening international cooperation, accelerating the transition to clean energy, and ensuring a fair and inclusive approach.
Super Typhoon Ragasa lashed Hong Kong with hurricane-force winds and torrential rain on Wednesday.
When Climate Week kicks off in New York City on Sunday (21 September), it will mark the largest event of its kind yet, with organisers reporting a record number of companies participating and more events than ever before.
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