Climate-conscious travel

Project goals

1. Develop a standard for calculating CO₂e emissions across the tourism value chain.

2. Promote industry-wide adoption of the standard.

3. Make consistent and transparent emissions data available digitally.

4. Support the transparent presentation of emissions data for product managers, sales teams and travellers.

5. Provide a basis for incorporating emissions data into product development, sales and travel planning decisions.

Improving the Transparency and Comparability of Emissions Data

A consistent calculation methodology is essential for assessing emissions data for tourism products and services. Since the emissions associated with different travel components are often calculated using different methods and data sources, the challenge lies in enabling comparable and transparent calculations across the entire tourism value chain.

Against this background, Futouris and its members launched the industry-wide project “Climate-Conscious Travel”. Its objective was to develop a common standard for calculating CO₂e emissions from tourism services.

On behalf of Futouris and DER Touristik, the Centre for Sustainable Tourism (ZENAT) first analysed and evaluated existing carbon accounting approaches. The analysis showed that calculation methods already existed for individual travel components, but no common standard was available to bring the different elements of a trip together within a single methodology.

Developing a Common Industry Standard

During the first phase of the project, a common calculation framework for emissions data from tourism products and services was developed. The following travel components were specifically considered:

• Air travel

• Rail travel

• Bus travel

• Car travel

• Accommodation

Existing calculation methods for these areas were analysed, compared and further developed. Where necessary, additional methodological approaches were introduced.

Following its approval by the Futouris General Assembly, the standard was transferred to the association KlimaLink e.V. for further development. There, the calculation methods are continuously reviewed in collaboration with businesses and experts and adapted to reflect new scientific findings and data sources.

The standard provides the foundation for consistently calculating and making emissions data for tourism products and services available..

Project Activities

Phase 1: Standard Development

The first step involved analysing existing methods for calculating emissions from individual travel components and identifying gaps.

Building on this analysis, additional calculation approaches were developed, existing methods refined and the results consolidated into a common standard. The standard was then coordinated with businesses and other industry stakeholders.

The project also established the organisational and technical prerequisites for the standard's long-term application.

Phase 2: Implementation and System Integration

The second phase focused on integrating emissions data into the tourism industry's technical infrastructure.

The objective was to enable the calculation and provision of emissions data for different travel components through digital systems and to facilitate the use of this information throughout tourism sales and booking processes.

To ensure the long-term availability of the data, the association KlimaLink e.V. was founded in October 2022.

KlimaLink: Standardised Emissions Data for the Travel Industry

KlimaLink provides digital access to emissions data for tourism services based on a common, ISO-compliant calculation standard.

The aim is to give travel industry businesses centralised access to consistently calculated emissions data for different travel components. This enables information from various areas to be consolidated using a common data basis.

The technical platform was developed in collaboration with project partner atmosfair and tested with member companies. It has been available to the industry since 2024.

Emissions data can currently be retrieved for various travel components, including flights, accommodation, bus travel and car travel. Further tourism services are to be added gradually.

An important element of the project is the technical integration of emissions data into existing booking and sales systems. This makes the information available directly within relevant information and booking processes.

Today, numerous associations, businesses and organisations from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are involved in KlimaLink. The industry-wide initiative is supported by tourism associations including DRV, ÖRV and SRV.

Discover KlimaLink now

Presenting Emissions Data in the Booking Process

To help travellers understand emissions data when making travel decisions, the information needs to be presented clearly and transparently.

As part of the project “Decision criterion Climate protection"”, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), approaches for presenting emissions data in tourism sales were developed in collaboration with ZENAT, NIT and DRV.

One element of this approach is placing emissions data in a broader context. This is intended to help users better understand the figures provided and compare different travel options more easily.

Find out more about the project

Transparency in Travel: Making Emissions Data Easy to Understand

In addition, information and communication materials were developed to explain the fundamentals of calculating and interpreting emissions data and to support its clear and accessible presentation in the tourism context.

To the explanatory video

Emissions Data as a Basis for Product Decisions

Access to reliable and transparent emissions data can help businesses incorporate climate-related information more systematically into product development and decision-making processes.

Against this background, the project “Climate Impact in the Product Portfolio: Measure – Analyse – Reduce” developed tools and training formats to help businesses analyse and incorporate emissions data into product management.

The approaches developed through this project help businesses evaluate emissions data more systematically and use it as an additional source of information when making product decisions.

To the free tools