Rich Travelers Emit 100 Times More than the World’s Poor—Just by Going on Vacation

A striking new study published in Nature Communications by academic researchers Ya-Yen Sun, Futu Faturay, Manfred Lenzen, Stefan Gössling and James Higham has quantified a vast gulf in the carbon footprints of global travelers: Residents of high-income countries now generate more than 100 times the tourism-related emissions per person than those living in the world’s poorest nations.

The study’s findings raise urgent questions about equity and responsibility in efforts to combat the escalating climate crisis.

According to the research, which analyzed tourism spending and greenhouse gas emissions data from 175 countries, the wealthiest nations — classified by the World Bank as those with a per-capita Gross National Income above $12,375 — produce over 3.1 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent (tCO₂-e) per capita from tourism each year.

In stark contrast, individuals in the lowest-income countri