Toward net-zero tourism: Aligning technological and social levers with sustainable development goals

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:This synthesis maps the fragmented net-zero tourism literature and identifies research gaps in technology-policy-behavior interactions.

🏢実務担当者:Tourism operators and destination managers can use the five thematic clusters to prioritize decarbonization actions aligned with SDGs.

🏛政策担当者:The paper highlights the need for integrated governance and policy mixes to overcome infrastructural and institutional barriers in tourism.

Research background: Tourism accounts for a substantial share of global greenhouse gas emissions, positioning the sector at critical crossroads between remaining a climate liability and contributing meaningfully to global net-zero transitions. Although research on tourism decarbonization has expanded rapidly, existing systematic reviews remain fragmented, typically privileging isolated technological solutions, behavioral interventions, or governance mechanisms. Consequently, there is limited integrative understanding of how technological, ecological, behavioral, and institutional levers interact across contexts to enable scalable, SDG-aligned net-zero tourism pathways. Purpose of the article: The objective of this article is to synthesize and systematize the net-zero tourism literature by identifying dominant decarbonization themes, examining how geographic and institutional contexts shape transition outcomes, and clarifying how tourism's contribution to sustainable development goals (SDGs) can be operationalized. The study advances existing net-zero tourism reviews by offering a multidimensional, SDG-oriented synthesis rather than a single-lens or sector-specific assessment. Methods: This study adopts an integrated mixed-methods review design combining a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review of Scopus-indexed publications (2015–2024), machine learning–based topic modeling using BERTopic to identify latent thematic structures, and a comparative synthesis of empirically grounded case studies across diverse geographic and governance contexts. SDG mapping is embedded throughout the review to enhance analytical coherence and policy relevance. Findings & value added: Five thematic clusters emerge: zero-emission transport and renewable energy, consumer climate engagement, governance integration, ecosystem-based mitigation, and circular economy digitalization. Technological solutions reduce emissions but face infrastructure and institutional constraints, whereas nature-based approaches offer durable sequestration yet remain weakly embedded in policy and accounting. Behavioral initiatives are limited by trust and fairness concerns, and governance fragmentation restricts scaling. The study integrates fragmented research via the ADO lens and demonstrates methodological novelty through PRISMA, BERTopic, and comparative case synthesis, offering actionable guidance for scalable, SDG-aligned net-zero tourism transitions.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.24136/eq.3901first seen 2026-05-15 17:42:51