A BRIGHT OUTLOOK! Feasibility Study on Climate-friendly Tourism in the Wadden Sea Region Conducted on behalf of WWF Germany PUBLISHING INFORMATION A FEASIBILITY STUDY on Climate-friendly Tourism in the Wadden Sea Region Conducted on behalf of WWF Germany, Berlin The study was conducted in the framework of the Wadden Sea Office InterregIVB project PROWAD — Protect & Prosper and Hafenstraße 3 was sponsored by the Bingo environmental lottery D-25813 Husum of Schleswig-Holstein as well as by the European Regional Development Fund. August 2013 Editor: WWF Germany Contact: [email protected] Authors: Wolfgang Günther, Bente Grimm (NIT Institute for Tourism Research in Northern Europe) in cooperation with Kirsten Havers (Institute for Applied Ecology Berlin) Editorial work: Anja Szczesinski (WWF), Hans-Ulrich Rösner (WWF) Translation: Janne Käckenmeister (NIT Institute for Tourism Research in Northern Europe), Mark Sixsmith (Environmental English) Design: Jan Wichmann, www.jones-design.de Picture credits: Sina Clorius (p. 4), Natalie Eckelt (p. 25), Hans-Ulrich Rös- ner / WWF (pp. 5, 19, 23, 26), Rainer Schulz (p. 16), Martin Stock (cover, Vrachtfiets (p. 21), Imke Zwoch (p. 21) © 2013 WWF Germany, Berlin Every reprint, even if only in part, requires permission from the editor. Climate-neutral printing, colours free of mineral oil on 100% recycled paper www.prowad.org TaBLE OF CONTENTS B 1 Preface 4 2 Introduction 5 3 Analysis of the Tourism-induced CO2 Footprint in the Wadden Sea Region 8 3.1 Method 8 3.2 Tourism-induced CO2 Footprint of the Schleswig-Holstein North Sea Coast 11 3.3 Tourism-induced CO2 Footprint for the Whole Wadden Sea Region 13 3.4 Tourism-induced CO2 Footprint for the Whole Wadden Sea Region in Comparison 14 4 Estimation of Reduction Potential 16 4.1 Arrival & Departure Segment 18 4.2 Local Mobility Segment 20 4.3 Accommodation Segment 22 4.4 Catering Segment 22 4.5 Leisure Facilities Segment 24 4.6 Reduction Potential of Overarching Measures 24 5 Action plan for Reducing the Tourism-induced CO2 Footprint 26 6 Appendix 32 6.1 Overview of Tourism-Induced Emissions 33 6.1.1 Arrival & Departure 33 6.1.2 Local Mobility 34 6.1.3 Accommodation 35 6.1.4 Catering 36 6.1.5 Leisure Facilities 37 6.1.6 Extrapolation 38 6.2 Market Research Data Used 39 6.3 Definitions 39 6.4 Information on the Calculation of Emissions 40 6.5 Background Information on the Adjustment Coefficients 41 6.6 Literature 42 3 PREFACE 1 Yes, tourism on the North Sea Coast in the WWF, professionally supported by the Institute Wadden Sea Region is, in comparison to oth- for Tourism Research in Northern Europe (NIT) ers, not a climate-killer! This is the good news and the Institute for Applied Ecology Berlin, from this study. Tourists going on holiday near wants to give impulses here for the regionally their home instead of travelling thousands of important economic sector of tourism. With the kilometres by plane to reach beaches far away present study we propose priorities and a ten- contribute a whole lot more point plan to reduce the climate footprint that is to climate protection than feasible in the Wadden Sea Region. other tourists do. More good news from this study: both I am absolutely certain about this: climate pro- the tourist and the tourism tection has to become a joint effort by everyone. industry can still achieve a lot This includes the Wadden Sea Region, with its more in order to contribute to international World Heritage Site, the same as the 2030 climate goal of the everywhere else. Tourism in our region can con- Wadden Sea Region! tribute essentially to it, especially by changes in the area of mobility, by energy-efficient building At a conference on the Ger- refurbishments, by use of renewable energies, by man island of Sylt in 2010, this transparency of the climate footprint of diverse Dr. Hans-Ulrich Rösner, 2030 climate goal was jointly tourism products, by favouring regional catering Head of WWF Wadden Sea Office stated by the three countries for guests, and by indirect effects of the jointly bordering the Wadden Sea - supported goal to become a climate region model. Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. According to Of course, it is not only tourism that can con- this climate goal, the Wadden Sea Region (the tribute to the 2030 climate goal. A contribution Wadden Sea including adjacent communities, is demanded from everyone in the region: first, districts, and parts of provinces) shall become by the consequent search for possibilities to use climate-neutral by 2030. Unfortunately, in the energy more efficiently. So-called energy guz- last three years only a little was undertaken to zlers should be turned off. But this only helps if work on this goal. A joint action plan is still not the energy saved is not compensated by bigger in sight and there is not even a joint definition and larger amounts of consumption. Secondly, of the term “climate-neutral” that clarifies the the manifold expansion of renewable energy has exact meaning. to move on — obviously in a nature friendly man- ner that respects the World Heritage Site and other protected areas. If there is the will for it, it is possible to handle. And thirdly, not-building new fossil fuel power stations and also increas- ingly the decommissioning of those plants. Let’s tackle it! 4 INTRODUCTION 2 Climate protection as a major task for politi- cians and society is multiply described and initi- ated in the three Wadden Sea states by diverse activities in differing societal areas of action. activities and be an orientation for those activi- ties that are still necessary for achieving the Tourism also plays a major role in climate multinational goal of having a climate-neutral change — both as a cause and as an impairment. Wadden Sea Region by 2030 | 1. This study deliv- Corresponding to this, many protagonists in ers a reasonable estimate of the tourism-induced tourism commit themselves scientifically, con- CO2 footprint for the Schleswig-Holstein North ceptually, and with real actions for more climate Sea coast (see Chapter 3.2). Subsequently, the protection — including and especially in the Wad- whole Wadden Sea Region | 2 will be considered, den Sea Region. also including the settlement areas near the Danish, Lower-Saxony, and Dutch Wadden Sea. The present study, ordered by WWF and con- This study does not supply a differentiated cal- ducted by the NIT in Kiel, shall complement these culation of the effects of single actions; instead it gives justified estimates of magnitude. The exact derivation of these numbers is listed in the appendix, including the boundary areas and sources used. An exact calculation would be pos- sible but demands a much higher expense. 1 Sylt-Declaration of the three Wadden Sea states in 2010: www.waddensea-secretariat.org/management/ publications/sylt-declaration-2010 2 For the boundaries of areas used in this study see appendix 5 Varde Esbjerg DENMARK Wadden Sea World Heritage Destination Ribe On this basis, the study relates the differing World Heritage Property action options and their potential for climate Nominated Property protection to the action demands of the tourism chain of services and to the politically declared World Heritage Destination (Wadden Sea Region) climate protection goals. This is supplemented by short profiles of selected tourism-related climate N protection projects from the Wadden Sea Region 0 10 20 30 40 50 km that show how committed protagonists already Tønder address the challenges of climate protection. Finally, this study names the goals and actions which, according to this analysis by the WWF, are to be dedicated to with priority in order to achieve the agreed climate protection goals in tourism. This ten-point plan shall stimulate Schleswig- regional discussion on climate protection. Holstein Husum North Sea Tönning Heide Brunsbüttel Cuxhaven Stade Bremerhaven Wilhelmshaven Niedersachsen Emden Figure 1: As a touristic destination, Delfzijl the Wadden Sea Region includes the national parks and and other Leeuwarden Groningen conservation areas that have been Harlingen designated (and, partly, nominated) as World Heritage Site as well as the Oldenburg entire islands, local communities and Bremen districts at the bordering mainland. THE NETHERLANDS Den Helder GERMANY 6 Varde Esbjerg DENMARK Wadden Sea World Heritage Destination World Heritage Property Ribe Nominated Property World Heritage Destination (Wadden Sea Region) N 0 10 20 30 40 50 km Tønder Schleswig- Holstein Husum North Sea Tönning Heide Brunsbüttel Cuxhaven Stade Bremerhaven Wilhelmshaven Niedersachsen Emden Delfzijl Leeuwarden Groningen Harlingen Oldenburg Bremen THE NETHERLANDS Den Helder GERMANY 7 ANALYSIS of the Tourism-induced CO2 Footprint in the Wadden Sea Region 3 3.1 METHOD The scope of the present study on the After inspecting the data given and calculating tourism-induced CO2 footprint in the Wadden emission rates, some small parts of the chain Sea Region lies in the service and value chain of were pooled for purposes of clarity. Thereafter the tourism industry. To get a first impression of the following parts of the chain were taken into the present share of tourism in CO2 emissions * account: in the region, preferably all parts of the chain are arrival & departure considered. local mobility accommodation catering leisure facilities For these five defined segments, the amount of CO2 emissions they are responsible for was then analysed. The starting point of the analysis was leisure facilities arrival & departure the most recent typical travel behaviour of the guests in the Wadden Sea Region (especially origin, mode of transport, accommodation, and activities), as is described in market research studies | 3. local mobility catering * Properly called: CO2 equivalent emis- sions, since greenhouse gases other than CO2 may also be included.