CARIBBEAN CARBON NEUTRAL TOURISM PROGRAM

The “Caribbean Carbon Neutral Tourism Program” (CCNTP) is executed by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) with the financial support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The general objective of the Program is to assist the Caribbean region to respond to climate change by enhancing its climate resilience.The specific objectives are to devise ways of attracting new sources of financing for: (i) the scaling-up of low carbon investments in the tourism sector; and (ii) reducing the sector’s vulnerability to climate change. The tourism sector was chosen because of the sector’s economic importance to many Caribbean islands. The methodologies and lessons learnt under the Program can be applied not only to the tourism sectors of other countries, but also to other economic sectors, as the intention is to use the tourism sector as a template for the other sectors.

Four countries will be used as pilot sites for the Program – The Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Belize, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. These countries were chosen as pilot sites on the basis that there was a strong level of support from the tourism sectors in these countries; the diversity of the tourism sectors so as to be able to pilot and demonstrate the applicability of the methodologies for GHG auditing and certification within a diverse tourism environment (e.g. cruise ship tourism in Bahamas, dive tourism in Belize, small-scale ecotourism and cultural tourism in Guyana, resort tourism in Tobago etc); limited size and scale of tourism product – e.g. Guyana or Tobago and Eleuthera – Bahamas where GHG audits could be undertaken on a whole island, which provides the distinct advantage of being able to be replicated in scaled-up region-wide projects for those countries with larger and more complex tourism products (e.g. Jamaica, Barbados) and; to take advantage of the results of the regional economic studies on climate change (RECCS) coordinated by UNECLAC, which are expect to start with the countries of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago in its first year of implementation.

The Program comprises four components: (1) an assessment of the carbon footprint of the tourism sector and evaluation of appropriate approaches/technologies to reduce its footprint; (2) identification/development of financial mechanisms to establish carbon neutrality for the tourism sector in the Caribbean; and (3) preparation of the program to access available climate financing for integrating climate resilience within the tourism sector.

A Consulting Firm has been contracted to provide technical assistance for the execution of Components 1 and 2 of the Program. The Consulting Firm is expected to conduct “an assessment of the carbon footprint of the tourism sector and evaluate appropriate approaches/technologies to reduce its footprint” under Component 1; and “identify/develop financial mechanisms to establish carbon neutrality for the tourism sector in the Caribbean” under Component 2. Technical assistance will also be sought for the execution of Component 3: “preparation of the program to access available climate financing for integrating climate resilience within the tourism sector”. The reports generated by this program will be posted on this site.

Web-based Carbon Footprinting Tool

A Web-based Carbon Footprinting Tool / Tourism Sector Emission Calculator was developed. It can be accessed through the tools section of our website here.

Please see the users’ guide below.

Caribbean Carbon Neutral Tourism Program (2012): Web-based Carbon Footprinting Tool User’s Guide, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belmopan, Belize

Selected Outputs and Reports

Caribbean Carbon Neutral Tourism Program (2012): Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Options Assessment for the Tourism Sector,  Technology Assessment Report, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belmopan, Belize

Caribbean Carbon Neutral Tourism Program (2012): Assessment of Finance Mechanisms for Low Carbon Development in the Tourism Sector, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belmopan, Belize