Tourism and climate change by James Higham
While transportation currently accounts for 23% of total global energy-related CO 2 emissions, tr... more While transportation currently accounts for 23% of total global energy-related CO 2 emissions, transport emissions are projected to double by 2050, driven significantly by continued high growth in global passenger demand for air travel. Addressing high growth in aviation emissions is critical to climate stabilization. Currently we rely on individual decisions to forego air travel as the means of reducing these high-risk emissions. In this paper we argue that encouraging voluntary responses to such risks cannot succeed due to the nature of human reason and the structure of the problem itself. We use decision making theory to explore why individuals have been generally unwilling or unable to act upon these risks, and collective action theory to illustrate the futility of relying on uncoordinated actors in such cases. Participation in the high-carbon air travel regime is a social convention, and transition from social conventions requires coordination among players. Our theoretical discussions lead us to conclude that it is our moral duty to promote coordinated collective action, via national or global policy mechanisms, to address tourist aviation emissions. We offer various avenues of future research to advance this moral duty.
Aviation emissions are an important contributor to global climatic change. As growth in travel de... more Aviation emissions are an important contributor to global climatic change. As growth in travel demand continues to outstrip improvements in the fuel efficiency of air travel, the aviation contribution to climate change is likely to grow substantially. Consequently, measures that effectively reduce travel demand are required if atmospheric carbon concentrations are to be limited. The efficacy of the Australian Clean Energy Future policy which placed a $23.00AUD (FY 2012) to $24.15 AUD (FY 2013) per tonne levy on carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions from July 2012 to June 2014 is tested. Specifically, time-series regression is used to estimate the effect of this carbon price policy on the level of domestic passenger kilometres flown in Australia, while adjusting for costs of production (i.e. fuel and labour costs), economic activity (i.e. gross domestic product), competitive effects (i.e. airline capacity), and exogenous shocks. There was no evidence that the carbon price reduced the level of domestic aviation in Australia. Carbon pricing measures may have to be levied at a greater rate to affect behavioural change, particularly given the limited potential for future aviation efficiency gains.
Emissions from aviation will continue to increase in the future, in contradiction of global clima... more Emissions from aviation will continue to increase in the future, in contradiction of global climate policy objectives. Yet, airlines and airline organizations suggest that aviation will become climatically sustainable. This paper investigates this paradox by reviewing fuel-efficiency gains since the 1960s in comparison to aviation growth, and by linking these results to technology discourses, based on a two-tiered approach tracing technology-focused discourses over 20 years (1994-2013). Findings indicate that a wide range of solutions to growing emissions from aviation have been presented by industry, hyped in global media, and subsequently vanished to be replaced by new technology discourses. Redundant discourses often linger in the public domain, where they continue to be associated with industry aspirations of ‘sustainable aviation’ and ‘zero-emission flight’. The paper highlights and discusses a number of technology discourses that constitute ‘technology myths’, also outlining how policy makers embrace technology myths, and how this may have adversely impacted progress in climate policy for aviation.
This overview paper examines three areas crucial to understanding why, despite clear scientific e... more This overview paper examines three areas crucial to understanding why, despite clear scientific evidence for the growing environmental impacts of tourism transport, there is large-scale inertia in structural transitions and a lack of political will to enact meaningful sustainable mobility policies. These include the importance of addressing socio-technical factors, barriers posed by 'technology myths' and the need to overcome 'transport taboos' in policymaking. The paper seeks pathways to sustainable mobility by bridging the science – policy gap between academic research and researchers, and policymakers and practitioners. It introduces key papers presented at the Freiburg 2014 workshop, covering the case for researcher engagement using advocacy and participatory approaches, the role of universities in creating their own social mobility policies, the power of social mechanisms encouraging long-haul travel, issues in consumer responsibility development, industry self regulation and the operation of realpolitik decision making and implementation inside formal and informal destination based mobility partnerships. Overall, the paper argues that governments and the tourism and transport industries must take a more cautious approach to the technological optimism that fosters policy inertia, and that policymakers must take a more open approach to implementing sustainable transport policies. A research agenda for desirable transport futures is suggested.
• A thorough exploration of low carbon mobility transitions from a range of disciplinary and theo... more • A thorough exploration of low carbon mobility transitions from a range of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives; • A broad view of low carbon transition across travel, transport, tourism and mobilities studies; • A critical exploration of the global, regional and local prospects for low carbon mobility transitions; • Illustrating examples of low carbon transition, from leading scholars researching in a wide range of geographic contexts. Arranged in three interrelated sections; People and Place, Structures in Transition, and Innovations for Low Carbon Mobility, Low Carbon Mobility Transitions presents nineteen theoretically-informed, empirically grounded chapters and case studies that comprehensively address the prospects for global, regional, and local systemic transitions to low carbon mobility. Bringing together the work of leading researchers from 26 universities, research centres and consultancies, spanning six continents, it critically explores the wide-ranging regional contexts in which a low carbon transition has been, is being, or can be achieved. In doing so, it highlights the place-specific, geopolitical and cultural sensitivities of low carbon transitions at national, regional and local (urban) scales. The overlapping roles of technological innovation, behaviour change and policy frameworks are critically examined in this book, providing timely insights into the opportunities for decarbonising the current systems of transport, in order to achieve the radical emissions reductions required to prevent lasting impacts of climate change. Must-have and essential reading for all researchers, teachers and upper level students.
Hopkins, D., Higham, J.E.S., Tapp, S. & Duncan, T. (2016). Academic travel in the Anthropocene: A comparative study of university policy at three New Zealand institutions. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 24(2) (in press)., Jun 2015
Anthropogenic climate change is a wicked problem, requiring fundamental behavioural and technolog... more Anthropogenic climate change is a wicked problem, requiring fundamental behavioural and technological responses now, in the Anthropocene, a term denoting the current era of human dominance of biological, chemical and geological processes on Earth. Travel and transport policies are key to effective responses, confronting both leisure and business travellers, including academics. This paper explores in detail the factors that promote or suppress academic travel, examining institutional policies which frame academic mobility practices at three New Zealand universities; University of Otago, University of Auckland and, Victoria, University of Wellington. It finds evidence of little congruence between sustainability statements, with their wide discourses on environmental sustainability, and the institutional policies governing academic mobility. Three overriding themes emerging from the analysis are presented: ‘hollow words’, (describing a lack of meaningful commitment to sustainability, with disconnections between sustainability rhetoric and key policies), ‘unspoken words’, (assumptions about the necessity of travel), and ‘facilitating mobilities’ (promoting travel, rewarding those who travel). These themes highlight varying degrees of divergence between the sustainability imperatives of these universities and the carbon emissions of institutionalised academic mobilities. Concluding remarks highlight opportunities for New Zealand’s academic institutions to align travel policies with growing sustainability imperatives and discuss future research directions.
Young, M., Markham, F., Reis, A. & Higham, J.E.S. (2015). ‘Flights of fantasy’: A theoretical reformulation of the ‘flyers’ dilemma’. Annals of Tourism Research
We position pleasure travel within Beck’s risk society as a contradictory form of consumption tha... more We position pleasure travel within Beck’s risk society as a contradictory form of consumption that simultaneously produces individual pleasure and global environmental risk. We examine the paradoxical emergence of the ‘anxious traveler’ from this contradiction, arguing that this social category is necessary to individualize and apportion the global, environmental risk associated with frequent flying, and hence legitimate the reproduction of unsustainable travel practices. We identify several future scenarios that may synthesize this frequent-flying dialectic. On reflection, these scenarios themselves appear as cultural productions, suggesting that our attempts to imagine the future are crippled by the hegemonic ahistoricism associated with contemporary capitalism.
Higham, J., Reis, A.C. and Cohen, S.A. (2015). Australian climate concern and the ‘attitude-behaviour gap’. Current Issues in Tourism., 2015
Anthropogenic climate change poses considerable challenges to all societies and economies. One si... more Anthropogenic climate change poses considerable challenges to all societies and economies. One significant contributor to human-induced climate change is tourism transportation, particularly aviation. This paper addresses the relationship between climate change concerns, the energy-intensive nature of tourist consumption, and unrestrained tourist air travel behaviour in the context of Australia. Following Barr, Shaw, Coles and Prillwitz (2010), it seeks to understand public climate concern within the context of routine everyday (‘home’) lives and occasional tourist (‘away’) decision-making, with a specific focus on air travel. It draws upon 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in Australia between March and June 2011. The findings highlight the contradictory nature of environmental concerns and consumption decisions in everyday and tourist contexts. This is evident in widespread domestic consumer practices that are motivated, all or in large part, by climate concerns, set against almost complete disregard and neglect of responsibility to modify existing air travel practices. Our results highlight the magnitude of the challenge involved in shifting deeply entrenched air travel behaviours despite the growing urgency of radical emission reductions. It also highlights the need to consider consumer responses to climate change not in isolation, but in relation to industry drivers and strong government policy interventions.
Journal of Cleaner Production , 2015
Tourism has been critiqued as an environmentally destructive industry on account of the greenhous... more Tourism has been critiqued as an environmentally destructive industry on account of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with tourist mobility. From a policy perspective, current and projected growth in aviation is fundamentally incompatible with radical emissions reduction and decarbonisation of the global energy system. Efforts to address the aviation-climate change ‘policy clash’ must be informed by an understanding of public sentiments towards climate change, air travel and carbon mitigation. This article examines how consumers across four western nations are responding to the environmental excesses of contemporary air travel consumption. It focuses on individual receptiveness to voluntarily measures aimed at changing flying behaviours, industry responses and degrees of government regulation. Its theoretical context harnesses lessons from public health to inform a discussion of bottom up (social marketing, nudge) and top down (government regulation) approaches to the urgent challenge of radical air travel emissions reduction. The findings of its comparative empirical analysis are presented, based upon 68 in-depth interviews conducted in Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. We highlight contrasts in how consumers are beginning to internalise and process the environmental excesses of contemporary air travel consumption. Whereas voluntary measures, such as carbon off-setting, are viewed with widespread scepticism, divergence was found across the four study contexts in willingness to accept regulatory measures. Norwegians were far more willing to accommodate strong government intervention through taxation, whereas participants from the other three nations favoured softer strategies that are not perceived as restricting individual freedoms to travel. We conclude that voluntary approaches will be insufficient alone, and that behavioural change in public flying behaviour requires diverse policy measures. These must be informed by insights into the public’s willingness to palate stronger mitigation interventions, which varies within and between societies.
Annals of Tourism Research, 2014
The ‘flyers’ dilemma’, where an individual’s self-identity as an environmentally-responsible cons... more The ‘flyers’ dilemma’, where an individual’s self-identity as an environmentally-responsible consumer conflicts with the environmental impacts of frequent air travel, has been shown to produce a range of negative psychological effects. Some have argued that frequent flying may represent a site of behavioural addiction, characterized by guilt, suppression and denial. While this sort of pathologisation finds parallels in other forms of excessive consumption, its application in a tourist context is problematic in terms of classification validity, attribution of negative consequences, transfer of responsibility, and tendency towards social control and domination. We argue for an alternative conceptual approach to frequent flying which elaborates the structural reproduction of the ‘flyers’ dilemma’, rather than its individual, psychological effects.
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2015
The period leading to and immediately after the release of the IPCC’s fifth series of climate cha... more The period leading to and immediately after the release of the IPCC’s fifth series of climate change assessments saw substantial efforts by climate change denial interests to portray anthropogenic climate change (ACC) as either unproven theory or a negligible contribution to natural climate variability, including the relationship between tourism and climate change. This paper responds to those claims by stressing that the extent of scientific consensus suggests that human-induced warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Secondly, it responds in the context of tourism research and ACC, highlighting tourism’s significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as climate change’s potential impacts on tourism at different scales. The paper exposes the tactics used in ACC denial papers to question climate change science by referring to non-peer reviewed literature, outlier studies and misinterpretation of research, as well as potential links to think-tanks and interest groups. The paper concludes that climate change science does need to improve its communication strategies but that the world-view of some individuals and interests likely precludes acceptance. The connection between ACC and sustainability illustrates the need for debate on adaptation and mitigation strategies, but that debate needs to be grounded in scientific principles not unsupported skepticism.
Keywords: climate change denial; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); climate change consensus; climate models; climate change mitigation; greenhouse gas emissions
Tourism Management, 2015
Shani and Arad (2014) claimed that tourism scholars tend to endorse the most pessimistic assessme... more Shani and Arad (2014) claimed that tourism scholars tend to endorse the most pessimistic assessments regarding climate change, and that anthropogenic climate change was a “fashionable” and “highly controversial scientific topic”. This brief rejoinder provides the balance that is missing from such climate change denial and skepticism studies on climate change and tourism. Recent research provides substantial evidence that reports on anthropogenic climate change are accurate, and that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, including from the tourism industry, play a significant role in climate change. Some positive net effects may be experienced by some destinations in the short-term, but in the long-term all elements of the tourism system will be impacted. The expansion of tourism emissions at a rate greater than efficiency gains means that it is increasingly urgent that the tourism sector acknowledge, accept and respond to climate change. Debate on tourism-related adaptation and mitigation measures is to be encouraged and welcomed. Climate change denial is not.
"Despite a growing contribution to climate change, tourist and traveller behaviour is currently n... more "Despite a growing contribution to climate change, tourist and traveller behaviour is currently not acknowledged as an important sector within the development of climate policy. Whilst tourists may be increasingly aware of potential impacts on climate change there is evidence that most are unwilling to modify their actual behaviours. Influencing individual behaviour in tourism and informing effective governance is therefore an essential part of climate change mitigation.
This significant volume is the first to explore the psychological and social factors that may contribute to and inhibit sustainable change in the context of tourist and traveller behaviour. It draws on a range of disciplines to offer a critical review of the psychological understandings and behavioural aspects of climate change and tourism mobilities, in addition to governance and policies based upon psychological, behavioural and social mechanisms. It therefore provides a more informed understanding of how technology, infrastructure and cost distribution can be developed in order to reach stronger mitigation goals whilst ensuring that resistance from consumers for socio-psychological reasons are minimised. Written by leading academics from a range of disciplinary backgrounds and regions this ground-breaking volume is essential reading for all those interested in the effective governance of tourism’s contribution to climate change now and in the future."
Journal of Travel Research, 2014
The ‘flyers’ dilemma’ describes the tension that now exists between the personal benefits of tour... more The ‘flyers’ dilemma’ describes the tension that now exists between the personal benefits of tourism and the climate concerns associated with high levels of personal aeromobility. This article presents the first international comparative analysis of attitudes towards climate change and discretionary air travel, providing insights into areas of convergence and divergence across three European societies - Norway, the United Kingdom and Germany. Employing a critical interpretive approach and drawing upon 48 indepth semi-structured interviews, we document evidence of widespread neglect of the ‘flyers’ dilemma’. Our comparative analysis confirms that although current discretionary air travel practices are deeply embedded and resistent to change, attitudes towards the climate crisis and barriers to behaviour change offer points of important contrast between different societies. Efforts to reformulate excessive discretionary air travel in response to accelerating global climate change must accommodate the unique issues and contrasting perspectives that exist in sections of these socieites.
"Recent popular press suggests that ‘binge flying’ constitutes a new site of behavioural addictio... more "Recent popular press suggests that ‘binge flying’ constitutes a new site of behavioural addiction. We theoretically appraise and empirically support this proposition through interviews with consumers in Norway and the United Kingdom conducted in 2009. Consistent findings from across two national contexts evidence a growing negative discourse towards frequent short-haul tourist air travel and illustrate strategies of guilt suppression and denial used to span a cognitive dissonance between the short-term personal benefits of tourism and the air travel’s associated long-term consequences for climate change. Tensions between tourism consumption and changing social norms towards acceptable flying practice exemplify how this social group is beginning to (re)frame what constitutes ‘excessive’ holiday flying, despite concomitantly continuing their own frequent air travels.
Keywords: behavioural addiction, air travel, climate change, social norms"
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2013
This paper introduces and explores the psychological and social factors that both contribute to a... more This paper introduces and explores the psychological and social factors that both contribute to and inhibit behaviour change vis-à-vis sustainable (tourist) mobility. It is based on papers presented at the Freiburg 2012 workshop. Specifically, it reviews climate change attitudes and perceptions, the psychological benefits of tourism mobilities, addictive elements of mobility and social norming effects, the attitude-behaviour gap (i.e., cognitive dissonance between understandings of, and responses to, climate change), the psychology of modal shifts, the psychology of travel speed/time, and psychological explanations for the perceived importance of long distance travel. It notes that anthropogenic climate change is an inescapable reality, and that tourism’s share of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions appears set to rise substantially. There is little prospect of technical solutions adequately addressing this problem. The paper concludes that, while a comprehensive understanding of tourist psychology is necessary to inform policy makers, it alone will be insufficient to achieve emission reductions, and bring tourism to a climatically sustainable pathway, if treated in isolation. Radical change in the structures of provision is also necessary. That change may take the form of infrastructure planning, including financial and economic infrastructure (e.g. taxation regimes and emission trading schemes) for sustainable mobility.
"Accelerating global climate change poses considerable challenges to all societies and economies.... more "Accelerating global climate change poses considerable challenges to all societies and economies. The European Union now targets a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. Indeed, the Labour-led Norwegian government is committed to carbon neutrality across all sectors of the economy by 2030. Aviation has been identified as a rapidly growing contributor to CO2 emissions. This article reports on a research project that explored Norwegian attitudes towards climate change, particularly as they relate to extreme long-haul air travel to Aotearoa/New Zealand. It reveals that the 'dream trip' to New Zealand for Norwegians is still largely intact. It also finds evidence of 'air travel with a carbon conscience' arising from growing concern for high frequency discretionary air travel. Evidence of denial of the climate impact of air travel that recent studies have revealed was largely absent. Interviewees expressed a greater concern for short-haul air travel emissions than for the climate impact of long-haul travel. However, intentions to adapt long-haul travel behaviours were expressed, highlighting the need to monitor consumer attitudes towards the impact of air travel on climate change. We conclude that Norway is a vanguard European tourism market in terms of climate sensitivity.
Keywords: climate change; aviation; CO2 emissions; extreme long-haul travel; Norway; New Zealand"
Current Issues in Tourism, 2011
"The purview of climate change concern has implicated air travel, as evidenced in a growing body ... more "The purview of climate change concern has implicated air travel, as evidenced in a growing body of academic literature concerned with aviation CO2 emissions. This article assesses the relevance of climate change to long haul air travel decisions to New Zealand for United Kingdom consumers. Based on 15 semi-structured open-ended interviews conducted in Bournemouth, UK during June 2009, it was found that participants were unlikely to forgo potential travel decisions to New Zealand because of concern over air travel emissions. Underpinning the interviewees’ understandings and responses to air travel’s climate impact was a spectrum of awareness and attitudes to air travel and climate change. This spectrum ranged from individuals who were unaware of air travel’s climate impact to those who were beginning to consume air travel with a ‘carbon conscience’. Within this spectrum were some who were aware of the impact but not willing to change their travel behaviours at all. Rather than implicating long haul air travel, the empirical evidence instead exemplifies changing perceptions towards frequent short haul air travel and voices calls for both government and media in the UK to deliver more concrete messages on air travel’s climate impact.
Keywords: air travel; climate change; impact perceptions; behavioural intentions; New Zealand; UK"
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2013
Encouraging positive public behaviour change has been touted as a pathway for mitigating the clim... more Encouraging positive public behaviour change has been touted as a pathway for mitigating the climate impacts of air travel. There is, however, growing evidence that two gaps, one between attitudes and behaviour, and the other between practices of “home” and “away”, pose significant barriers to changing discretionary air travel behaviour. This article uses modern sociological theory on tourism as liminoid space, and postmodern theory that views identities as contextual, to provide a deeper understanding of why these gaps occur in the context of tourism spaces. Based on 50 in-depth interviews with consumers in Australia, Norway and the United Kingdom, our findings confirm that tourism spaces are often subject to lower levels of environmental concern than day-to-day contexts. These findings, which suggest that scope for positive behaviour change in the context of discretionary air travel practices is limited, are of crucial significance to policy makers who may seek reductions in air travel’s climate impacts, through even a partial reliance on voluntary public behavioural change.
Cohen, S.A. and Higham, J.E.S. (2012). Contradictions in climate concern: Performances of home and away. In V. Reddy & K. Wilkes (Eds.) Tourism, climate change and sustainability. London: Routledge, pp. 257-270., 2012
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Tourism and climate change by James Higham
Keywords: climate change denial; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); climate change consensus; climate models; climate change mitigation; greenhouse gas emissions
This significant volume is the first to explore the psychological and social factors that may contribute to and inhibit sustainable change in the context of tourist and traveller behaviour. It draws on a range of disciplines to offer a critical review of the psychological understandings and behavioural aspects of climate change and tourism mobilities, in addition to governance and policies based upon psychological, behavioural and social mechanisms. It therefore provides a more informed understanding of how technology, infrastructure and cost distribution can be developed in order to reach stronger mitigation goals whilst ensuring that resistance from consumers for socio-psychological reasons are minimised. Written by leading academics from a range of disciplinary backgrounds and regions this ground-breaking volume is essential reading for all those interested in the effective governance of tourism’s contribution to climate change now and in the future."
Keywords: behavioural addiction, air travel, climate change, social norms"
Keywords: climate change; aviation; CO2 emissions; extreme long-haul travel; Norway; New Zealand"
Keywords: air travel; climate change; impact perceptions; behavioural intentions; New Zealand; UK"