Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt is a resort town normally known as a tourism centre and a diving paradise, but for two weeks in November it also hosted the world’s largest climate summit, COP27. Megan Morikawa, global director of sustainability at hotel group Iberostar, told Energy Monitor at the summit that tourism can play a significant role in reducing emissions and Iberostar intends to be net zero by 2030.
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“We are here launching our decarbonisation road map [toward halving emissions by 2030],” she said. “We have also got a great programme where we are focusing on, for the remaining carbon footprint that we have by 2030, protecting and restoring nature in our destinations. So we are very excited by the climate adaptation and resilience-building dialogue.”
Morikawa wants to see climate action shift from agreements to implementation. “Our level of ambition is not possible without renewable energy transitions in our destinations,” she said. “So what we are keen to see is how conferences [like COP27] can facilitate these public-private partnerships and dialogues for us to start to say, ‘what are the needs that we have as an industry?'”
The tourism industry is responsible for roughly 11% of global emissions. At COP26, the pioneering Glasgow Declaration for Tourism was created to get companies to commit to halve emissions by 2030 and for the industry to go net zero by 2050.
Beyond Iberostar’s net zero plans at COP27:
Reporter Nour Ghantous and senior writer Dave Keating reported from COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on behalf of Energy Monitor and our parent company, GlobalData. They provided the data-led analysis you have come to expect from Energy Monitor but also something new: video interviews with business leaders, policymakers and campaigners. We encourage you to browse our coverage of the conference. You can also sign up for our free biweekly newsletter here.
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