Futouris / KlimaLink and German Climate Fund Tourism agree on cooperation

Two approaches - one mission

At the first meeting of the Climate Neutrality Working Group of the National Platform Future of Tourism, the stakeholders were pleased to announce a significant alliance: The sustainability and climate protection initiatives Futouris, KlimaLink and the German Climate Fund Tourism (DKT) will lead a joint package of initiatives as part of the working group and have also launched a "Memorandum of Understanding" on cooperation. In the agreement, the three organizations have agreed on joint activities for more climate protection in the tourism industry. In doing so, the partners are sending out an important signal: only together, if everyone pulls together, can we make an effective contribution to climate protection.

One of the aims of the three organizations is to create more transparency with regard to climate-damaging emissions in tourism through uniform calculation standards.

Futouris and KlimaLink focus on emissions from travel products: In the Futouris industry project "Climate-conscious travel", an initial version for a common calculation basis for travel emissions was developed. From the beginning of 2024, uniform emissions data based on this standard will be made available to the industry via the KlimaLink platform set up for this purpose. The aim is to make the climate footprint of vacation travel transparent at the point of sale. This sensitizes travelers to climate-conscious travel decisions and enables sales staff to provide specific advice on the climate impact of travel.

The DKT, on the other hand, aims to record the greenhouse gas emissions of the entire German tourism industry and at the same time develop a financing instrument for reduction projects in destinations in Germany. In cooperation with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the carbon footprint of the German tourism industry is determined using a generally applicable calculation standard. This will be supplemented by detailed emissions calculations for companies and destinations. These then form the basis for scientifically sound projects to reduce emissions. This makes the tourism industry's contribution to achieving national climate protection targets visible. The DKT will also run a broad campaign to inform the public about the relevance of climate protection in tourism.

Together, the two projects will encourage both travelers and tourism companies and destinations to participate in climate protection and create more transparency about the corresponding emissions.

Hand in hand for more climate protection

The cooperation serves to identify and exploit synergies, promote scientific and professional exchange, coordinate joint communication measures and achieve broad support for both projects in the tourism industry. In this way, the three initiatives aim to further intensify climate protection efforts in the German tourism industry.

Swantje Lehners, Managing Director of Futouris and Chairwoman of KlimaLink, is looking forward to the collaboration: "Climate protection in tourism must not be a competitive issue, but only works if all stakeholders join forces across organizational boundaries! The activities of DKT and Futouris/ KlimaLink complement each other perfectly and we are certain that together we can significantly reduce emissions in the tourism industry!"

Sven Liebert, Secretary General of the Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry (BTW) and sponsor of DKT, comments on the new cooperation: "Sustainable transformation is one of the key issues for the future viability of the tourism industry. However, effective climate protection will only work if we work together to set standards for calculating emissions, provide customers and the public with targeted information and support businesses in their transformation. The cooperation between Futouris/ KlimaLink and the DKT is a strong signal to tackle this challenge together across stakeholder boundaries!"