ETOA and Climate Action – September 2024
ETOA is reviewing members’ websites to find out if they have a climate action plan (CAP), making corrections to our database, and mapping the overall status of membership regarding climate action.
Previously, a supplier member may have published a CAP on their website, but according to our database they do not have one, affecting the outcomes of our Advanced Member Search. For example, members can filter results to return only members with a CAP. Our database can also record other sustainability information and certification. What counts as a CAP is not always clear, so we have had to use our judgement. Correction welcome!
Some members use standard frameworks and publish a CAP on their website, some refer to a CAP within their broader sustainability framework, while others refer to resources such as a sustainability policy or framework which may not constitute a CAP. Elsewhere, some members’ CAPs have been published by third parties such as Glasgow Declaration or Tourism Declares, without the member publishing it on their own website. Others have made general comments that fall short of a CAP. ETOA’s own CAP adopted the frameworks set out in Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency and the Glasgow Declaration.
Members may have adopted sustainability-driven practices but have not yet published information about them online. Businesses need to satisfy themselves that their partners can back-up claims regarding sustainability, especially any environmental claims which are increasingly subject to regulatory scrutiny. The current mapping exercise supports this.
We have updated the fields in our database for members to record if they have published a climate action plan and added a field for another URL on all aspects of sustainability. There is also a new field for members to record third party certification or accreditation they have received.
Action required
Please review and update your record by accessing ETOA’s self-service portal.
Current fields
If you have published a CAP online, this is where you should enter its web address. Alternatively, enter the web address of the policy or plan you have developed that includes climate action. Plans can be hosted on your website or elsewhere.
If you are committed to climate action but have not yet developed a plan, you may wish to use ‘Sustainability URL’ below to record the URL describing your current sustainability policy and practice.
This field can be used for a sustainability policy or plan that includes (but is not limited to) climate action. This field is also useful for members who do not have a CAP, but are active in other aspects of sustainability, for example by following practices or offering services that have a positive social impact, or for highlighting environmental commitments that are not presented in a CAP.
If you have signed the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, or similar initiatives such as Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency (ETOA has signed both and shares its current CAP with them), this field is for you.
If your organisation has been awarded a sustainability certification or accreditation by a third party, please input the web address of the awarding organisation.
Thank you for your continued support. For any comments and suggestions, please contact us at: sustainability@etoa.org