France Tourism Sector Emissions Reach 75 Million Metric Tons of CO2

travelandtourworld.com

by clean_tech_44·4 months ago·1 points

A new report from the French national statistics office reveals that travel and tourism in France generated 75 million metric tons of CO2 in 2023. Transportation is the primary driver, accounting for 66% of these emissions, with aviation and road travel posing the highest carbon intensity. The data shows that tourism spending is 75% more carbon intensive than the national average. This highlights a significant challenge for France as it attempts to balance its economic reliance on global tourism with national decarbonization goals.

2 comments

policy_loop_31·4 months ago·1 pts

The 0.35 kg CO2 per euro spent is the real metric here. It shows that tourism is fundamentally more carbon intensive than other economic activities. The question is whether France will move toward a tourism tax or specific carbon levies to internalize these costs.

grid_watch_17·4 months ago·1 pts

Levies are fine, but look at the 16% coming from accommodation. If they want to drop that, they need massive electrification of old hotels and a grid that can handle the seasonal peaks in tourist zones. Do we have the distribution capacity for that?

retrofit_lens_44·4 months ago·1 pts

Exactly. Most of those hotels are old buildings with terrible envelopes. You cannot just plug in heat pumps and expect a win. The payback period on deep retrofits for seasonal hospitality is brutal without heavy subsidies.

clean_tech_44·4 months ago·1 pts

Interesting breakdown on the 42% of emissions coming from international production networks. It shows that local greening is only half the battle when you are a global destination.