IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, joined the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) under the new Investment Readiness for Green Finance Mechanisms initiative. The UN specialized agency for tourism will work alongside IFC on a series of training programs focused on stimulating tourism’s recovery from the current crisis while at the same time promoting green financing to enhance sustainability across the whole of the tourism value chain.
UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Sustainable tourism should no longer be considered a special niche. Instead, this pause in global travel offers us a chance to rethink tourism and make the whole sector more sustainable as we grow back better and stronger. This new initiative with IFC will provide valuable guidelines on Sustainable Tourism Investments that enhance tourism’s contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Facilitating Investments in Sustainability
At present, there are 200,000 hotels providing 18 million beds worldwide, with a further 2.4 million rooms in the pipeline. These alone account for 1% of global greenhouses gas (GHG) emissions and so increasing the sustainability of this part of the global tourism sector can make a significant contribution to climate-related Sustainable Development Goals. This new initiative is aimed at furthering this.
One of the main focuses will be working with private sector partners to promote green finance and share experience in resourcing sustainable buildings. The initial cooperation will consist in a series of trainings to promote green investments for a long term recovery of the tourism sector.
