Why Major Travel Brands Skipped the COP30 Climate Talks
Photo Credit: Delegates arriving at COP30 in Brazil. UN
Skift Take
The travel industry risks losing influence at high level climate summits. Blame logistics and politics.
The travel industry was largely absent from the COP30 climate summit in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, even though the UN devoted two full days to tourism.
It’s a stark reversal from last year, when the industry helped launch the first-ever Tourism Day at COP29 in Baku and secured a commitment from 70 governments to include tourism in their national climate plans.
"We built some good momentum last year," said Christopher Imbsen, vice president of research and sustainability at the World Travel and Tourism Council. "It's a damn shame in many ways, especially with tourism's strong link to nature."
The minister of tourism for Brazil Celso Sabino told Skift he wanted broader industry participation at COP30 to keep making progress on the 2021 Glasgow Declaration, an agreement from COP26 to reduce emissions by half by 2030 and to reach net zero before 2050.
"I wish more businesses were here and corporates should be at COP and be inv
