The one thing I'd change is... by Susanne Becken, Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University, Australia

Should we put a price on carbon? Susanne Becken, Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University, Australia thinks it's time we did.

I asked her what is the one thing she would like to change given the climate and nature emergencies. Here is her reply:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/581fc9_b5b8fe42369843119acdd26ea7c3e0b1/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Susanne Becken, Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University, Australia

"The one thing I would change is to put a price on carbon.

"Why do I say that? Last year we had the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions ever, in 2024.

"We also went over the 1.5 degree temperature barrier that we really don't want to reach.

"And we have tried for decades using soft instruments, awareness raising, behaviour change, but apart from a small group that maybe really changed their travel behaviour or practices, people effectively decide based on costs.

"The good thing about that is that it would bring a significant amount of money that we need for the transition.

"Just putting in a tax on aviation alone, which is one gigaton a year, and let's talk a hundred dollars a ton at least, would raise a hundred billion dollars that we could invest into different mobility schemes, new aviation technology, nature restoration projects, and also climate justice."

🙏 Susanne

This post is part of a series of interviews I'm filming with people across the travel and tourism industry, where I ask them to answer in less than 60 seconds, "What's the one thing you'd change in travel, given the climate and nature emergencies?"