Sustainability and tourism

The impact of economic activity on the environment is undeniable, causing irreparable damage. This climate change is mainly due to CO₂ emissions, among other greenhouse gases. Clearly, one of the sectors of activity in which the term sustainability can be put into practice is the tourism sector. This sector is responsible for a significant part of the generation of wealth. In line with the above, the aeronautical sector is playing a key role in the growth of tourist activity as it facilitates and has economised travel between countries and continents. Given that this is a sector with a considerable volume of CO₂ emitters, it is a great challenge that its expected growth for the coming decades does not contribute to climate change to the same extent.

This paper analyses the effects of the European Union emissions trading scheme on this sector. It is based on the Porter’s hypothesis, the study of the evolution and cluster analysis of the emissions of the main European airlines for the period 2013–2017.

The results show an improvement in emission levels and efficiency for practically all the largest airlines. Therefore, we can say that there has been a positive effect in the short and medium term on emissions as a whole.

As a conclusion, it can be said that for the study sample since the application of the regulation on emissions the companies have increased their productive efficiency and at the same time reduced their environmental impact concerning emissions generated. Porter’s hypothesis is therefore correct.

The recommendation to the European authorities would be to invest more in research projects on emission efficiency concerning new fuels or weather conditions on different air routes. On the other hand, the single European emissions register can be a very important benchmarking tool for airlines and a key to improving their strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but to this end it must require a higher number of variables and information from airlines regarding their actions in the management of their emissions.