Climate Action Declarations
How RISE Travel Institute combats the climate crisis
RISE Travel Institute acknowledges the urgency of a collective response to the climate crisis. As an educational organization, RISE is committed to sustainability and anti-oppression in travel. Climate change and environmental justice are two key areas we address in our sustainable travel curriculum. Our core values emphasize integrity, reverence for our planet and all living beings, and ethical responsibility to diversity, inclusion, and anti-oppression. RISE envisions a world where travel is a force for positive transformation for both travelers and communities around the world.
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Affirming our obligation to planet Earth and living beings through our principles, we aim to address unsustainable tourism practices and their resulting consequences, including:
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Environmental stress factors on local communities, economies, and ecosystems worldwide
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Harmful greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and traffic congestion due to overcrowding and over-tourism
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Natural resource depletion
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Human exploitation and commodification of cultures
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Animal exploitation
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Sustainable travel education furnishes travelers with the information, abilities, and devices essential to comprehend the basic oppressive systems that lead to these interconnected issues and experience travel mindfully. It has a lasting positive effect on local communities, economies, biodiversity, and the environment of the regions they visit.
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RISE Travel Institute joins Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency
As one of our core values is a deep respect for the planet, we've joined Tourism Declares. This initiative supports tourism businesses, organizations, and individuals in declaring a climate emergency and taking purposeful action to reduce their carbon emissions. This action is driven by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) advice to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030.
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Like all signatories, RISE Travel Institute has committed to the following five actions:
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1. Develop a 'Climate Emergency Plan' within the next 12 months, which maps out our intention to reduce carbon emissions over the next decade.
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2. Share publicly an initial public declaration of our 'Climate Emergency Plan' and update each year's progress.
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3. Accept current IPCC advice stating the need to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030 to keep the planet within 1.5 degrees of warming. We will ensure our 'Climate Emergency Plan' represents actions designed to achieve this as a minimum through delivering transparent, measurable, and increasing reductions in the total carbon emissions per customer arising from our operations and the travel services sold by us.
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4. Encourage our suppliers and community to make the same declaration, share best practices amongst colleagues and peers, and actively participate in the Tourism Declares community.
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5. Advocate for change. We recognize the need for system change across the industry to accelerate a just transition towards carbon-free tourism.
RISE Travel Institute is a proud signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism
As a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, we commit to deliver plans aligned with the pathways to cut tourism emissions in half over the next decade and reach net zero emissions as soon as possible before 2050.
RISE Travel Institute commits to the following actions:
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Support the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and reach Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050
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Deliver climate action plans within 12 months of becoming a signatory (or updating existing plans) and begin implementing them
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Align plans with the five pathways of the Declaration (Measure, Decarbonise, Regenerate, Collaborate, Finance) to accelerate and co-ordinate climate action in tourism;
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Report publicly on an annual basis on progress against interim and long-term targets, as well as on actions being taken
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Work in a collaborative spirit, sharing good practices and solutions, and disseminating information to encourage additional organizations to become signatories and supporting one another to reach targets as quickly as possible
(Published on November 3, 2021)
