Action Agenda launched at COP30 calls for sector-wide support to drive tourism’s climate transition

The Travel Foundation has used the COP30 Climate Summit in Belém, Brazil, to release a new report calling for coordinated, sector-wide action to accelerate tourism’s climate transition. The Where Next? Action Agenda presents four interconnected ideas designed to help the global tourism industry navigate rising climate risks while supporting resilient economies and more equitable outcomes for destination communities.

Developed through a global consultation with more than 100 stakeholders across government, business, academia and civil society, the Action Agenda provides the foundation for a five-year programme (2026–2030) aimed at implementing system-level change in tourism. The report underscores the scale of the challenge: destinations worldwide face mounting climate-related costs, eroding natural assets, and growing uncertainty – issues that, if left unaddressed, threaten the foundations of their visitor economies.

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Jeremy Sampson, CEO of the Travel Foundation, stressed the urgency of coordinated action. “The climate crisis is already reshaping tourism, the question is whether we react piecemeal or take deliberate, coordinated action,” he said. “This agenda is an invitation to build a more viable and fairer future for tourism, and the ideas are both ambitious and achievable. But we can’t do it alone: we need partners ready to lead.”

Four Big Ideas for tourism’s climate transition

The Action Agenda identifies four practical initiatives that, when combined, provide a structured pathway for destinations and industry partners:

1. Understand the risks – Destination Climate Risk Register: An open-source tool translating climate science into clear, decision-ready risk profiles. It aims to guide investment, insurance and policy decisions, helping destinations prioritise resilience measures.
2. Mobilise the money – Tourism Resilience Fund: A connected network of funds backed by climate-aligned banks and corporate deposits. Its purpose is to deliver fair, transparent financing to support climate resilience in tourism-dependent communities.
3. Build the capacity – Tourism Transition Facility: A global support mechanism helping destinations, SMEs, workers and institutions design and implement just transition plans. It links risk data and funding with practical, on-the-ground action.
4. Require a fair deal for communities – Equity-based KPIs and Standards: A new Tourism Equity Index and a core set of standards ensuring that tourism investments demonstrate community consent and deliver tangible local benefits, safeguarding tourism’s social licence to operate.

Together, these initiatives offer a step-by-step approach: identify risk, mobilise investment, strengthen institutional capacity and embed community equity into decision-making.

Next steps: building a Global Action Agenda for 2026–2030

The Travel Foundation is now inviting organisations to join as Contributing Partners in co-developing the five-year Action Agenda, including regional pilots and multi-stakeholder collaborations. Support is already emerging from across the tourism ecosystem, with early partners including Cuidadores de Destinos, FINN Partners, Preferred Travel Group and Beyond Green, The Travel Corporation, and Canary Islands Tourism.

The Where Next? Agenda will be showcased on 20 November during the Global Online Sessions on Climate Action in Tourism, co-hosted by the Travel Foundation and Travalyst in collaboration with UN Tourism, as part of COP30’s Tourism Thematic Days.

The article Action Agenda launched at COP30 calls for sector-wide support to drive tourism’s climate transition first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.

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