We recently read Destination Think’s article on how decarbonisation will impact tourism as much as the rise of the internet did - and so will inaction on the climate challenge.
We highly encourage you to plan now for how your business will reduce its emissions by 3/4 by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2035 (targets which are essential to achieving the goal of remaining under 2C hotter) and also, to plan now for how climate change is likely to impact your business.
The impact of climate inaction on our industry
We’re all aware of how more intense weather events are already impacting our industry, such as
The Black Summer bushfires shutting down tourism on the south coast of NSW
Floods shutting down tourism to regions such as Lismore
The barren vistas of drought reducing the appeal of regional road trips
Storms sweeping away the beaches of tourism hotspots like the Gold Coast
Social changes that impact travel, such as the ‘flight shame’ movement
Here’s how a changing climate will impact your corner of the world:
Source: Climatecouncil.org.au
In recent years there have been grants to help our industry respond to the impacts of extreme weather events but for how long can Governments and insurance companies afford to bail us out?
Source: UN SDGs #13
How to become more resilient to extreme weather events
The Queensland Government has developed a simple-to-use and free checklist and action plan for climate change risk assessment and management to help you plan how you can improve your business’ resilience to the impacts of extreme weather events, and other impacts of climate change (such as on the economy and supply chains).
We used this template ourselves to assess and plan for the various impacts of climate change on our business.
How to reduce your business’ emissions significantly
We also used the free DIY resources of ecoBiz to very quickly and easily develop an emissions reduction plan for Tilma Group.
Key sources of emissions include
Heating and cooling air
Heating water
Transport fuel (driving and flights)
Key solutions include
Choosing electric appliances when gas appliances fail
Choosing energy efficient electric appliances, such as heatpump reverse cycle air conditioners / heaters and hot water heaters
Choosing electric vehicles
Adding solar or buying electricity from renewable sources
For businesses, such changes result in cost savings over time.
Over to you
We’d love to hear about your actions to mitigate (reduce emissions) and adapt (become more resilient) to climate change impacts. Please let us know.
