Carbon Footprint of Inbound Tourism to Iceland: A Consumption-Based Life-Cycle Assessment including Direct and Indirect Emissions

Abstract

Abstract:The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by tourism have been studied from several perspectives, but few studies exist that include all direct and indirect emissions, particularly those from aviation. In this study, an input/output-based hybrid life-cycle assessment (LCA) method is developed to assess the consumption-based carbon footprint of the average tourist including direct and indirect emissions. The total inbound tourism-related GHG emissions are also calculated within a certain region. As a demonstration of the method, the full carbon footprint of an average tourist is assessed as well as the total GHG emissions induced by tourism to Iceland over the period of 2010-2015, with the presented approach applicable in other contexts as well. Iceland provides an interesting case due to three features: (1) the tourism sector in Iceland is the fastest-growing industry in the country with an annual growth rate of over 20% over the past five years; (2) almost all tourists arrive by air; and (3) the country has an almost emissions-free energy industry and an import-dominated economy, which emphasise the role of the indirect emissions. According to the assessment, the carbon footprint for the average tourist is 1.35 tons of CO 2 -eq, but ranges from 1.1 to 3.2 tons of CO 2 -eq depending on the distance travelled by air. Furthermore, this footprint is increasing due to the rise in average flight distances travelled to reach the country. The total GHG emissions caused by tourism in Iceland have tripled from approximately 600,000 tons of CO 2 -eq in 2010 to 1,800,000 tons in 2015. Aviation accounts for 50%-82% of this impact (depending on the flight distance) underlining the importance of air travel, especially as tourism-related aviation is forecasted to grow significantly in the near future. From a method perspective, the carbon footprinting application presented in the study would seem to provide an efficient way to study both the direct and indirect emissions and to provide new insights and information to enable the development of appropriate GHG mitigation policies in the tourism sector.

Progress and Prospects for Tourism Footprint Research

“…Hanandeh [72] indicated that on average, each Hajj religious tourist contributes 60.5 kg of CO 2-eq per day. The inbound tourist carbon footprint of Iceland is 1.1-3.2 t of CO 2-eq , and the average is 1.35 t of CO 2-eq [23]. However, in southwestern England, domestic overnight visitors account for 49 kg of CO 2-eq , and day visitors account for 48 kg of CO 2-eq [63].…”

“…The average per capita emissions of tourists visiting Iceland range from approximately 1.35 t to 3 t of CO 2-eq , increasing with the flight distance. An increase in the average flight distance has caused annual emissions to grow rapidly [23].…”

“…Against this background, TCF analysis focuses on environmental issues caused by large-scale tourism, particularly its energy consumption and CO 2 emissions (defined as the amount of CO 2-eq emissions caused directly and indirectly by tourism activity), which have been widely researched at various scales, such as analyses for the countries of New Zealand [18], Sweden [19], Australia [20], Spain [21,22], Iceland [23], and China [24][25][26]; the regions of Taiwan [27][28][29], Wales [30], and Poole [31]; and even the scenic locations of the Penghu Islands [32] and Huangshan National Park [33]. TCF analysis excels at assessing the impact of tourism greenhouse gas emissions on climate change and identifying the contribution of tourism carbon emissions to climate change at the global scale, which has become a key research field.…”

“…More content has been added to analytical frameworks to address this issue. For example, Sharp et al [23] proposed a four-part framework that includes local transport, accommodation and restaurant services, retail goods, and recreation and leisure services. The analytical framework by Sun [27] includes eight components: air transport, land transport, shopping, food, lodging, entertainment, travel service, and car-rental service.…”

Ecological Pressure of Carbon Footprint in Passenger Transport: Spatio-Temporal Changes and Regional Disparities

“…Thomas Wiedmann and Jan Minx [21] proposed a scientific definition for carbon footprint: a measure of the exclusive total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that are directly or indirectly caused by an activity or are accumulated over the life stages of a product. Numerous studies have proposed different ways of calculating the carbon footprint, as well as analyzed the factors influencing GHG emissions [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. One study, for example, analyzed the carbon footprint of eight categories of products and services: construction, shelter, food, clothing, mobility, manufactured products, services, and trade [31].…”