Antarctic Shipborne Tourism: Carbon Emission and Mitigation Path

Guomin Li (), Wei Li, Yinke Dou and Yigang Wei ()
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Guomin Li: School of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Wei Li: School of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Yinke Dou: Polar Clean Energy Laboratory, College Electric and Power Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Yigang Wei: School of Economics and Management, Beihang University, Beijing 100190, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-17

Abstract: The rapidly increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide lead to a threat of global climate change. As one of the major sources of carbon emissions in the Antarctic region, shipborne tourism in the Antarctic is expanding rapidly. Consequently, the carbon emissions of shipborne tourism in Antarctica are rapidly increasing. However, there is not enough attention being paid to this issue. In this paper, a calculation model was established to calculate the carbon emissions of cruise ships from the 2003/04 season to the 2016/17 season. The evolution of the carbon emissions from Antarctic cruise ships was described. An aggregate energy efficiency index was developed to evaluate the energy efficiency performance of Antarctic vessels. The key drivers were analyzed to find the paths of carbon reduction. The results show that: (1) The emissions per passenger-trip did not show a downward trend. The total carbon emissions increased continuously with the increasing number of tourists. The total carbon emissions in the 2016/17 season was double that in the 2003/04 season. (2) The aggregate energy efficiency index of Antarctic tour vessels has not reached an advanced level yet. It is the main reason for the high value of emissions per passenger-trip. (3) Due to the oversupply of Antarctica tour ships, there is a low rate of occupancy, which accounts for the decline in aggregate energy efficiency from the 2014/15 season to the 2016/17 season. This study suggests that the administrators of Antarctica should strengthen supervision of the tourism market, control the rapid growth in the number of cruise ships, improve the aggregate energy efficiency of cruise ships and form an efficient and green Antarctic tourism management system.

Keywords: shipborne tourism; energy consumption; carbon mitigation; energy efficiency; Antarctic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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