Tracking tourism enterprises decarbonisation actions to reach Net-Zero before 2050: a case study approach

The European Union passed a new directive requiring organisations to report on environmental and social impacts to evaluate their sustainability performance. The purpose of this research was to assess tourism enterprises’ level of climate action literacy and their potential to decarbonise. Desk-based research was conducted to develop a framework, which was empirically utilised as an analysis tool to determine the upskilling and training required to reach Net-Zero. The findings show that despite enterprises having a sufficient understanding of climate action policies, there is a serious lack of decarbonisation practices being implemented nationally. Furthermore, several barriers to decarbonising the industry were identified, thus calling for enhanced education on carbon literacy and decarbonisation practices within tourism. This research contributes to the increasing body of knowledge on climate action in tourism, as the applied approach developed has been specifically designed for destinations to replicate in order to monitor enterprises’ potential to decarbonise internationally.