Context: A key sector with major climate challenges
The tourism sector plays an important role in France, with tourism consumption expected to reach €180 billion by 2022, or more than 7% of GDP. However, tourism in France contributes 97 million tonnes of CO2e to climate change, accounting for 11% of French emissions.
The environmental impact of this industry is primarily linked to the transport of tourists from origin to destination.
The Destination France plan, launched in 2021, aims to enhance the sector’s sustainability by incorporating measures to reduce emissions. As part of this, the ACT Tourism trial was conducted to assess and improve the applicability of existing ACT methodologies and propose recommendations tailored to the specific characteristics of the sector, which is characterised by a diversity of activities (accommodation, transport, catering, leisure).
Aims of the experiment
- Supporting 10 companies in developing their climate strategy using the ACT Step-by-Step methodology
- Assess the robustness of decarbonisation strategies implemented using ACT Assessment methodologies on 10 other companies in the tourism sector
- Taking stock of the low-carbon transition in the tourism sector
- Testing the applicability of this methodology in the tourism sector
- Propose methodological adjustments to better integrate the sector’s specific challenges
- Adapting the methodology to the specific characteristics of tourism
Results and conclusions
ACT Assessment
The evaluation of the companies revealed an average score of 7B+.
7/20 in climate performance, with a maximum score of 13/20 and a minimum of 4/20. Most companies have emission reduction targets, but these commitments are often short- or medium-term, with no long-term strategic vision.
The main obstacles identified are
- Little account taken of customer travel: this item accounts for a major proportion of emissions, but is often excluded from GHG (greenhouse gas) assessments.
- A still vague definition of low-carbon products and services, limiting the implementation of appropriate reduction actions.
However, some companies have introduced innovative measures (electrification of fleets, energy renovation, eco-design of meals) which should bear fruit in the medium term.
ACT Step by Step
Companies have made significant progress in a number of areas, with particularly marked advances in :
- Establishing a climate vision (+33% progress on this stage), enabling companies to better define their positioning in relation to the challenges of the low-carbon transition.
- The implementation of action plans (+30% progress), particularly with regard to supplier and customer commitment.
Improving the performance of products and services, with work on environmental labelling and the greening of food.
However, a number of difficulties have been identified. For example, the collective definition of “sustainable tourism” is still vague, making it difficult for companies to project themselves towards a totally carbon-free model. What’s more, integrating customer travel into reduction targets is still a difficult issue to address in a standardised way.
Key areas for methodological development
Taking customer travel into account:
- Integrate this issue into the ACT assessment using qualitative indicators.
- Focus less on the quantitative aspect, which overwhelms the visibility of other actions when few internal levers exist
- Integrate qualitative actions into the method to move towards resource commitments
- Think of the business model as integrating customer travel to ensure that it is taken into account.
Clarification of low-carbon products and services:
- Reflecting on and defining the concept of low-carbon tourism products and services
- Thinking low-carbon from the business model onwards
- Encourage growth in low-carbon supply rather than setting fixed performance thresholds.
- Developing appropriate environmental monitoring and display tools for ACT Step-by-Step
The trial highlighted the need to adapt the ACT Assessment methodology to better reflect the specific challenges of the tourism sector. By adjusting the assessment criteria and integrating qualitative indicators, this approach will be able to effectively support the low-carbon transition of businesses in the sector. For ACT Step-by-Step, the trial has enabled companies to improve their climate maturity and identify concrete levers for action.
