Low-carbon tourism: determining domestic tourist perception from Thailand: Tourism Agenda 2030

PurposeUnderpinned by three-factor theory, this study aims to: examine the dynamics (asymmetry) of multi-quality low-carbon attributes towards the Thai tourists' perception and prioritise carbon-tourism attributes on the basis of impact-range performance and asymmetric analysis.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies a multi-method approach to derive the low-carbon tourism (LCT) items before conducting exploratory factor analysis to identify the underlying dimensions. Impact range performance analysis and impact asymmetry analysis were carried out to explore the asymmetric or symmetric relationship associated with tourists' perception of LCT.FindingsFindings reveal the three dimensions of the LCT attributes. Out of the 29 attributes, nine are regarded as "must-have” categories, such that tourists will be disappointed at the efforts of a low-carbon destination if these attributes are missing, but they will feel neutral if the attributes are present. Six LCT attributes fall into the "hybrid” category, such that tourists will appreciate if they perceive these attributes to be available for LCT and feel disappointed if these attributes are not or poorly offered. Fourteen attributes are considered under the "value-added” category, meaning tourists will only appreciate if they encounter these attributes at the destination, and the lack thereof will not cause any dissatisfaction or negative perception from tourists.Originality/valueThrough the multi-quality asymmetric analysis, the study provides deep insights into the degree of perception of the 29 LCT attributes. The study offers tangible guidelines to destination authorities and pinpoints the necessity to provide attributes, especially in the "hybrid” and "must-have” categories, to avoid tourists' negative perceptions when they visit a low-carbon destination.

Calculation and Assessment of CO2e Emissions in Road Freight Transportation: A Greek Case Study

Road freight transportation is already contributing significantly to global warming, and its emissions are predicted to grow dramatically in the following years. Carbon footprint calculation can be used to assess CO2e emissions to understand how an organization’s activities impact global sustainability. To this end, the main objective of this paper is initially to assess the impact of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions stemming from road freight transportation. Subsequently, we adopt the EN 16258 standard to calculate the carbon footprint of a truck fleet of a freight transport operator in Greece. Based on the obtained results, we assess the performance of the company’s fleet by adopting relevant sustainability indicators. We also evaluate the use of CNG as an alternative fuel and its impact on CO2e emissions and operational costs. The paper concludes with a list of additional measures toward further reduction and offsetting of CO2e emissions.

A review of air travel behavior and climate change

Air transport challenges the world's net-zero carbon ambitions. The sector has consistently grown and causes warming as a result of both CO2 and other, short-lived emissions. Two principal solutions have been proposed to reduce the contribution of aviation to climate change: innovations of technology and the development of interventions to trigger behavioral change. Technological innovations include new propulsion technologies and the use of sustainable aviation fuels. Behavioral change includes flight avoidance, substitution with other means of transport, the choice of efficient flight options, and carbon offsetting. This article focuses on behavior;it offers an overview of factors that lead to consumers traveling by air and discusses demand distribution complexities. The importance of price for air travel decisions is assessed, and evidence of travel "wants" are contrasted with "needs," the latter investigated in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The review of relevant scholarly work culminates in an action list enabling air travelers, policy makers, the aviation industry, researchers and society to meaningfully advance low-carbon air transport trajectories. This article is categorized under: Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Behavior Change and Responses The Carbon Economy and Climate Mitigation > Policies, Instruments, Lifestyles, Behavior

Arriving at a natural solution: Bundling credits to access rangeland carbon markets

On the Ground•Natural solutions, such as “avoided conversion of grasslands,” offer agricultural land managers a way to mitigate climate change while monetizing climate benefits.•Managers who avoid converting grasslands to other uses, such as row crops, can quantify the amount of stored carbon and sell credits, but high costs of developing carbon credit projects price many landowners out of the carbon market.•Aggregation can create economies of scale, which lower barriers of entry and allow more landowners to participate in the market.•Given the current low prices in the carbon market, aggregation is not a panacea and aggregated projects are not financially viable for many landowners.•As the demand for carbon credits continues to grow, land managers can position themselves to take advantage of carbon market opportunities should prices increase, and projects become financially viable.

CORSIA—A Feasible Second Best Solution?

This paper studies the feasibility of CORSIA’s carbon neutral growth goal based on verified carbon offsetting. It is motivated by an ongoing general debate about the climate and regulatory integrity of carbon offsetting, thus systematically identifying critical carbon offset characteristics. Using registry data from the largest carbon offset verifiers eligible under CORSIA, we show that the majority of carbon offsets have minor climate integrity. This challenges CORSIA’s neutral growth objective. However, unconditional offset price differentials are only weak signals for climate integrity. To increase environmental effectiveness, a narrower scope of eligibility rules is necessary in order to ensure maximum compliance of projects and strengthen the necessary price effect of carbon offsets. However, it is highly questionable whether there is enough potential supply of offsets to ensure such high integrity, indicating that carbon offsetting should be considered as a transitory measure only.

ENHANCING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE AVIATION INDUSTRY: AIRLINES' COMMITMENT TO "GREEN" PRACTICES

The aviation industry represents an important polluter, being responsible for increasing environmental impacts on global scale. Aiming to approach the adoption of suitable policies in the aviation industry towards the achievement of the national and international sustainability goals, the present research tackles airlines' commitment to aviation-related environmental issues, as well as their willingness to adopt sustainable aviation fuel (i.e., bio jet fuel) and sustainable development strategies, focusing on those companies operating flights in the Karol Wojtyła Airport (Bari, Italy). The paper adopts the x2 test and the logistic regression to investigate three different hypotheses related to airlines' headquarters, carriers' typology (i.e., low-cost or not, flag carriers or not) and years of service. Results outline that traditional airlines, either flag carriers or not, as well as South and North American companies, are more likely to be aware of aviation environmental consequences, publishing environmental reports and offering to passengers the chance to participate to climate change reduction (e.g., through online carbon offset programs or more expensive ticket to produce bio jet fuels). In addition, airlines transiting in Karol Wojtyła Airport show a small willingness to share information through environmental reports and are scarcely intentioned to make use of bio jet fuels, confirming that low-cost companies are still less attentive towards aviation environmental issues. The present research contributes to the empirical studies on sustainable aviation and carriers' commitment to environmental strategies, highlighting the need to enhance carbon offsets programs and digital technologies as the online compensation of CO2 emissions.

TACKLING THE DECISIVENESS DEFICIT—HOW TO ENHANCE CLIMATE AMBITION OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC COUNTRIES?

This article presents clear evidence that current announced climate pledges by Asia-Pacific countries – even those dependent on climate finance – are insufficient to keep the world within a 1.5°C temperature rise. The article provides analysis explaining why and how countries in the region are not being ambitious enough, and proposes three key steps for how to overcome a “decisiveness” deficit to spur further ambition.