Short-Term Rentals Test Sustainability as an Accreditation Standard
Photo Caption: Ecological farm stay at Nuns Cross farm in Dartmoor national Park in England. David Taylor
Skift Take
The industry may recognize the need to be sustainable, but the incentives need to align with the infrastructure. It's also important to treat sustainability as a common goal and shared outcome, and not as just an accreditation.
The short-term rental industry can be sustainable, but not without support and structure. As it currently stands, there are few institutional incentives and considerable regulatory obstacles to make sustainability a universal priority.
Some destinations are testing the waters, however, by instituting standards for sustainability. Think accreditation.
Global travel and tourism’s contributions to the global greenhouse gas emissions stand at 11 percent as of 2021 and that number is predicted to double by 2050. And, accommodations, which includes short-term rentals, account for roughly 10 percent of the total annual emissions of the tourism sector or 264 million metric tonnes of CO2-equivalent direct and controllable emissions, according to industry estimates.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization announced its One Planet Vision in 2020 with lofty goals such as supporting wildlife conservation efforts through tourism, engaging the to
