Key Issues at COP29: What Tourism Leaders Need to Know

The United Nations’ annual climate summit, COP29, is currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, where world leaders are gathering to advance global climate action. Our CEO, Paloma Zapata, will be on the ground, advocating for sustainable solutions in tourism. The Conference of the Parties (COP) brings together nearly 200 nations to set and negotiate international climate policies, driving collective action to reduce emissions, mobilize climate finance, and address the impacts of climate change worldwide. The conference focuses on tackling emissions and minimizing impacts across all sectors, with this year promising several implications for the tourism industry.   

In this blog, we’ll highlight the top issues we’re watching at COP29, from increasing financial support for developing destinations to new carbon market rules that solidify the importance of carbon offsets in achieving the tourism industry’s climate goals. With tourism heavily reliant on natural landscapes, stable climates, and thriving communities, the outcomes of COP29 will be essential in helping our industry build resilience and contribute to a sustainable future.

1. Boosting Financial Support for Developing Destinations to Build Climate Resilience

While developing countries contribute the least to global emissions, they bear a disproportionate burden of climate impacts. For many developing nations, especially those reliant on tourism, climate change poses an existential threat. Tourism accounted for 14% of the Caribbean’s GDP and 15% of its jobs in 2019, highlighting its critical role in these economies. However, essential tourism assets – such as coastal areas, islands, and natural attractions – are increasingly vulnerable to climate risks like intense storms, coral bleaching, and flooding. These effects threaten the livelihoods, health, and infrastructure of communities that often lack the resources to implement adaptation measures.

In 2009, developed nations pledged $100 billion annually to support developing countries, but this commitment, set to expire soon, falls far short of the actual needs. Current estimates show that developing nations will require trillions of dollars annually by 2030 to effectively mitigate and adapt to climate change. COP29 aims to establish a new climate finance target, or “new collective quantified goal” (NCQG), to secure essential resources and bridge the inequality gap. To meet these needs, countries must agree on various factors, including the amount of money, timeline, who is obligated to contribute, acceptable finance sources, how the funding will be used, and systems for tracking progress. In the opening days of COP29, UN climate chief Simon Stiell emphasized that climate finance is a shared investment in global stability, as no country is immune to the impacts of climate change, stating, “Let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity;” as climate change is impacting “every single individual in the world one way or another.”

Despite efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change, these actions must be more ambitious. The climate has continued to warm, and this week, the UN World Meteorological Organization announced that the past decade is set to be the hottest on record. As a result, communities are already suffering from the consequences of climate change, and certain impacts are now inevitable. COP29 discussions will also focus on financial resources to help developing countries recover from unavoidable climate impacts they cannot prevent through adaptation. At COP27 in 2022, countries agreed to establish a “Loss and Damage Fund” to compensate developing countries for irreversible losses – for example, by funding infrastructure reconstruction or emergency services after hurricanes and wildfires – to help communities rebuild and regain stability after devastating events. 

About $700 million has already been pledged for the Loss and Damage Fund. However, this amount falls drastically short of actual needs. It doesn’t cover a quarter of the damage caused by Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam in September, let alone the costs of other climate-related disasters worldwide. There is mounting pressure for countries to increase their funding commitments at COP29 amid growing frustration from vulnerable nations on the front lines of climate change.

2. Leveraging Carbon Markets to Drive Cooperative Climate Action in Tourism and Promote Sustainable Development

For many developed countries, reducing emissions in certain sectors – like aviation, shipping, and heavy industry – is especially challenging. For instance, air travel relies heavily on fossil fuels, and while there are promising developments in sustainable aviation fuel and electric planes, these technologies aren’t yet scalable. To decarbonize, countries and companies must limit travel or wait for breakthrough technologies to become widely available. This presents an economic challenge and climate justice issue, as restricting international travel would reduce crucial tourism revenue for developing nations, which already bear the brunt of climate impacts. 

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, established in 2015, creates a framework for countries to work together on reducing emissions. It allows developed countries to fund emissions reduction projects in developing countries and count those reductions toward their own climate targets. This helps both sides: developed countries meet their emissions reduction targets more cost-effectively while developing countries receive investment for climate-friendly projects that enhance sustainable development. For instance, under a recent agreement with Thailand, Switzerland funds Bangkok’s E-Bus Program, which aims to replace traditional buses with 4,000 electric buses, reducing emissions and improving urban air quality. In return, Switzerland receives “carbon credits” for these reductions, which it can count toward its national climate goals.

There are two different ways that carbon credits can be traded under Article 6. Countries can make direct agreements with each other or companies, and countries can buy verified credits from projects through a global carbon market overseen by the United Nations. Previous COPs struggled to finalize Article 6 due to issues like preventing double-counting of emissions reductions, setting credible project standards, managing leftover credits from older programs, and ensuring fair benefits for local communities. Finalizing Article 6 is a top priority at COP29. On the first day, nearly 200 governments approved Article 6’s comprehensive framework for the UN-supervised market, establishing standardized rules for trading carbon credits. This approval is a landmark achievement toward improving transparency and effectiveness, cementing offsets as a credible and essential climate solution. COP29 Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev described the mechanism as a “game-changing tool to direct resources to the developing world and help us save up to 250 billion dollars a year when implementing our climate plans.” 

Article 6 offers tourism companies a feasible way to meet their climate targets by purchasing carbon credits to offset their hard-to-abate emissions. It also directs funds into projects that support tourism’s decarbonization, such as renewable energy generation in destinations. Carbon offset projects, like forest protection and mangrove restoration, help protect tourism assets such as wildlife and natural areas. They also provide a new funding stream for community development initiatives, including improved water quality, ecotourism training, and healthcare systems. 

This approach is familiar territory to us at Sustainable Travel International. For 20 years, we’ve helped the tourism industry source high-quality carbon credits as part of a comprehensive sustainability strategy, a commitment now reinforced by the approval of the Article 6 carbon market standards. We’re dedicated to ensuring that the carbon offset projects we support are high-integrity and align with these new international standards.

3. Putting Tourism in the Spotlight: COP29’s Climate Agenda for the Industry

In a historic first, COP29 will feature a dedicated thematic day on “Climate Action in Tourism.” This focus reflects a growing recognition of tourism’s environmental impact, vulnerability to climate impacts, and potential for positive climate action. During this day, tourism stakeholders will discuss climate challenges and opportunities within the sector, including aligning tourism with broader climate objectives, emissions measurement, decarbonization, innovative financing for adaptation and resilience, and regeneration efforts to support a net-zero transition in tourism. 

The Baku Declaration on Enhanced Climate Action in Tourism will be launched as part of COP29’s Tourism Day. This declaration calls for countries to integrate tourism into their national climate action policies and leverage its economic influence to support sustainability. This builds on the commitments of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, pushing for concrete implementation and stronger climate ambition across the tourism sector. At Sustainable Travel International, we are committed to supporting destinations and businesses in this effort, with recent efforts in St. Kitts focusing on a participatory approach to develop a climate action plan that builds resilience within the local tourism sector.

We look forward to connecting with destination leaders at COP29 to discuss practical solutions and advance progress toward a lower-impact, climate-resilient tourism sector. Our CEO, Paloma Zapata, will be speaking in a session titled “Destinations for Tomorrow: Capacity Building and Sustainability in the Tourism Industry.” She will address the challenges of building sustainable capacity in resource-limited tourism regions, focusing on solutions for raising awareness, promoting green jobs, and developing skills within local communities

As the discussions at COP29 highlight the urgent need for action in tourism, now is the perfect time for companies and destination managers to evaluate their sustainability efforts. Download our Corporate Climate Action Checklist to get started, and sign up for our newsletter to stay informed on the latest responsible travel and climate news.

Header image: © Timon – stock.adobe.com.