Quantifying Spanish tourism's carbon footprint: the contributions of residents and visitors. A longitudinal study

This paper develops and explains an input–output model to quantify the carbon footprint linked to residents' and visitors' tourist consumption in the Spanish economy between 1995 and 2007, thus offering a rare longitudinal review of a national carbon footprint. Two measures are calculated:...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cadarso Vecina, María Ángeles, Gómez Sanz, Nuria, López Santiago, Luis Antonio, Tobarra Gómez, María Ángeles, Zafrilla Rodríguez, Jorge Enrique
Format: article
Publication Date:2015
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Repository:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/33805
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2015.1008497
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/33805
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Carbon footprint
CO2 emissions
Consumer or producer responsibility
Input–output tables
Tourism consumption
Description
Summary:This paper develops and explains an input–output model to quantify the carbon footprint linked to residents' and visitors' tourist consumption in the Spanish economy between 1995 and 2007, thus offering a rare longitudinal review of a national carbon footprint. Two measures are calculated: a domestic one similar to the producer responsibility criterion and a total measure that includes imported intermediate and final goods, similar to the consumer responsibility measure. The important role of tourism in Spain explains why its domestic carbon footprint represented 10.6% of total CO2 emissions in 2007. Visiting tourists represented 47% of this figure, households 36%, business tourism represented 14% and public administration expenditures 3%. By industry, transport (26%) was positioned as the highest emitter in 2007, with hotels and restaurants the second (21%) (benefitting indirectly from energy and environmental efficiency improvements over the period). The Spanish reliance on imported oil products and the growing importance of foreign-based air services has caused the total carbon footprint of tourism to increase by more than 100%. Therefore, climate change mitigation plans must include imports, and action must take place through the whole global production chain and in the transport sector, particularly air transport. Future mitigation policies are discussed.