Carbon Footprint of Tourism Sector in Portugal Calculator Development

• Autor(a) principal: Fernandes, Marco
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Neves, Pedro, Araújo, Patrícia, Brás, Isabel, Ferreira Silva, Maria Elisabete
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.19/7323
• topic: calculator; carbon footprint; greenhouse gases; environmental indicators; sustainable tourism

A carbon footprint (CF) calculator was developed to apply to a Portuguese touristic accommodation to contribute to a sustainable touristic activity. Although some calculators are available online, they are related to the country reality or use outdated emission factors. A calculator based on national emission factors is important. The calculator was developed in Microsoft Excel (version 365) and is based on the CO2e emissions resulting from electricity, water, fuels and food use, laundry and waste production. The calculator development involved: study the accommodation emission sources, selection the environmental indicators, determination of the emission factors and development of the CF formulas. Total CF calculation was made considering the partial CF per component, a monthly and annual comparison of each indicator’s emissions contribution using graphs. The emissions amount per overnight stay, per room, per area, were also assessed and these values were transformed into global hectare (gha). Avoided emissions calculation gives the information about the efforts in CF reduction, and two indicators were considered: electricity production from renewable energy sources and the amount of separated waste for recycling. It was considered reforestation measures to achieve carbon neutrality. This calculator incorporates four components not often used: water, laundry, waste, food, and avoided emissions.