As Australians gear up for the holiday season, new research has revealed the growing environmental cost of global tourism.
The University of Queensland-led study, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications today, found tourism is now responsible for almost a tenth of all greenhouse gas emissions.
The study, covering the entire tourism supply chain — everything from flights to souvenirs — found emissions from the sector surged by 40 per cent over the past decade, reaching 5.2 gigatonnes in 2019.
That’s equivalent to the emissions of 1.13 billion cars on the road for a year.
Tourism now accounts for 9 per cent of the world’s total emissions, with experts warning the figure could double every 20 years, fuelled by a growing…
