Even small companies can make a

big change

Welcome to making your tourism business
climate-smart. This step-by-step guide will help you
to plan the actions needed to reduce your emissions
and provide helpful tools and templates.

There are three ways you can use this toolkit:

1. You can use this online guide and free resources
to plan your climate-smart journey.
2. You can also use ready-made prompts under each section
in the AI tool of your choice to make the plan.
3. There is a safe Custom ChatGPT that gets going
right away as well!

Use all three or just one – the choice is yours!

Start My Climate Journey

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to find ready-made templates and examples with your chosen AI tool.

I want to map, measure and reduce my climate emissions for my travel business. Where and how should I start?
What does climate-smart tourism mean for my business?
Where should a beginner start with emissions reduction?
Summarize the benefits of climate action for my type of business.
How do I motivate my team to care about climate impact from the start?

Anchor 1

Map Your Emissions

Before you can start calculating, you need to understand where your company's emissions come from. Mapping your emission sources helps you decide what to measure and where to focus your reduction efforts.

1. Write down the activities in your business that cause emissions:

Energy: heating, cooling and lighting of your buildings.
Transport: your own vehicles, staff business travel, guest transfers and excursions.
Food and drinks: especially meat- and dairy-based products on your menus.
Waste and water: how much waste is created and how it is treated.
Purchased goods and services: cleaning, laundry, maintenance, renovation, equipment.

2. Use the scopes to show what you control directly and what sits in your value chain:

Scope 2
Electricity and district
heating or cooling

that you buy

Scope 3
Everything else, such as
purchased food and services,
guest travel and waste

Scope 1
Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources such as company vehicles, equipment, generators

You do not need to be perfect at first; start broad and improve later.
Pick 3–5 big and easy areas – for example building electricity, company vehicles, main food categories and largest purchased services.

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to identify and understand your emissions with your chosen AI tool.

List the most common emission sources for my tourism business.
How are Scopes 1, 2, and 3 different? Give practical examples.
Can you help me find hidden sources of emissions at my business?
What questions should I ask my staff when mapping emissions?
What is the easiest way to start if I don't know where to start?

Decide What to Measure

Decide what to measure by answering a few simple questions and then picking one clear approach.

You can take two approaches to deciding what to measure:

1. Operational control: “We measure everything we directly run” – your own buildings, vehicles, kitchens, offices.
2. Activity-based: “We measure per unit of service” – per guest night, per meal, per visitor or per tour.

Use these questions to decide what is the best approach to you:

Do you mainly use your own vehicles and buildings, then go with operational control. If you rely a lot on partners and platforms, then go activity-based.
Do you sell different things with very different footprints (e.g. basic room vs. larger package with many services)? If yes, then use activity-based metrics to compare them.
Do you want your numbers to cover only what you run yourself, or also big partner impacts like outsourced transport and excursions? If the latter, include those in your measurement even if you do not own them.

Make a decision:

If most emissions come from assets we operate (our buildings, vehicles), we use an operational-control boundary.
If different products, services or packages matter most, we also track emissions per guest night / per tour / per meal to compare and improve them.

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to decide what to include in your measurements with your chosen AI tool.

What’s the difference between operational and activity-based boundaries?
Which boundaries suit my business size and type?
Can you help me decide what to measure if I run more than one location or multiple activities?
Should I include supplier or customer activities from the start?
How can I plan for expanding my climate tracking later?

Collect Your Data

Once you have decided what to measure, you can collect the data needed to calculate your emissions.

Examples of activity data and where to find them:

Energy use: kWh of electricity, liters of heating oil – utility bills, meter readings, invoices

Transport: liters of fuel, kilometers traveled – fuel receipts, mileage logs, booking systems

Food & drinks: kg or € spent by category – supplier invoices, menus

Waste: kilograms and type – contractor reports, invoices

Water: m³ consumed – bills, meter readings

Other purchases: office supplies, equipment, services – procurement records

Pro-tip: Ask suppliers for sustainability details – and embed data in your standard procurement contracts and supplier invoices. This builds climate intelligence into your business relationships.

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to help data collection with your chosen AI tool.

List the easiest data to collect for a small business.
How do I get data from suppliers who don't track sustainability?
What should I do if I’m missing bills or meter readings?
Can you give me a sample data collection template?
How can I estimate transport emissions if staff use their own cars?

Choose Carbon Calculator

Choosing the right carbon calculator for your business is critical for reducing emissions and getting the right insights to how to make your business climate-smart. Use the following questions to determine what kind of calculator is right for you. We have also made a brief summary of available carbon calculators in local markets that are suitable for travel SME´s and beginners. You can find it in the Resources and Templates section.

Technical quality:

Does it cover at least Scope 1 and 2, and preferably Scope 3?
Is the data updated regularly and relevant for your country and the travel and tourism sector?
Does the tool show where its emission factors and methods come from?

Ease of use and access:

Can you use it in a browser without installations?
Is the interface simple enough for a non‑expert to use a few times per year?
Is the price reasonable for a small tourism business (or even free)?

Extra features and support:

Can you track results over several years and see trends?
Do you get clear charts or summaries you can share with staff and funders?
Is there any help available (guides, help desk, training) if you get stuck?

Based on your answers, decide whether you need only a basic free tool to get started, a mid‑level tool for full Scope 1–3 reporting, or an advanced paid tool with strong support and integrations.

Advanced Pro-Tip: Request a calculator trial using your real business data before committing to any significant cost or find out if there is a nationally recommended carbon calculator that applies to SMEs and travel and tourism sector.

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to pick a carbon calculator with your chosen AI tool.

Which calculator is best for my tourism sector?
What’s the simplest calculator for a beginner?
Is there a free tool for small businesses in the travel industry?
Compare calculators available in my markets by these features:
- Transparency of emission factors (auditability & reliability)
- Full scope coverage (Scope 1, 2, AND 3)
- Ease of use
- Up-to-dateness of factors
- Free or affordable options
How do I trial a calculator with my real data?

Take Action – Download the Climate-Smart Business Plan for support

Some actions are easier; some actions require more effort. But every action – small or big – counts! We have prepared a downloadable Climate-Smart Business Plan Template for you that helps you to put ideas in action.

With the template you can:

Document your 2–3 biggest emission sourcing using your calculator results and write them down clearly.
List practical ideas for each source, such as changing menus, optimising transport routes or sharing equipment with partners.
Compare ideas side by side using simple fields for costs, savings, CO₂ reduction and other benefits like guest experience or reputation.
Turn your best ideas into an implementation plan that names responsible people, needed skills, partners, tools and a realistic timeline.

Use it in a workshop, team meeting or strategy day to make sure your climate goals translate into specific actions, owners and deadlines.

The template consist of five four sections:

Plan for a climate-smart business
Identify youremission hotspots
Explore tactics and new ideas to reduce emissions at hotspots
Evaluate the business case for your ideasStep
Plan for the implementation

Go ahead and turn your business into climate-smart!

Climate-smart Business Plan Template.pdf

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to take climate-smart action with your chosen AI tool.

Suggest three easy, quick wins to start climate-smart actions in my business.
How can I make the biggest emissions reductions with minimal effort or cost?
Recommend a bold, transformative action for my business type.
Help me plan my first action step-by-step.
How do I measure and track the impact of a specific action?

Continue the Journey

Great, you’ve started climate action. Now the key is to keep going and make it part of everyday work.

Review your emissions and actions once a year, update your goals and add new hotspots as your data improves.
Mark any big gaps or assumptions and plan how to fill them over time (better data, new tools, partner info).
Share progress with your team and partners so everyone sees what has changed and what comes next.

Use stories, not just numbers: highlight how changes have improved guest experience, staff wellbeing or local benefits.

Download the Climate‑smart Business Plan template to:

Turn this year’s results into 2–3 new actions.
Check the business case for each idea.
Decide who does what and when.

Enjoy the Journey!

Use the downloadable Climate-smart Business Plan to stay ahead:

Climate-smart Business Plan Template.pdf

AI PROMPTS:

Make you stay on the right track with your chosen AI tool.

How do I create a simple progress report for my climate actions?
Suggest creative ways to celebrate progress with staff and guests.
Give me a template for sharing sustainability results with customers.
Show me examples of impact stories from other tourism SMEs.
How do I select new targets for next year?

Download your Climate-Smart Template here

Resources & Templates

No one has to start from scratch. Practical templates and examples save time, reduce errors, and give confidence. Connecting with community groups and accessing up-to-date guides ensures you follow best practice and benefit from collective experience.

Download your Climate-Smart Template

Business Case Calculation Template

Download the Prompt Library

Access the Climate-Smart Custom Chat GPT

How to Choose a Carbon Calculator

Download Guide to Climate-Smart Travel

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to find ready-made templates and examples with your chosen AI tool.

List all data collection templates available for my business type.
Find me a supplier email template for requesting carbon data.
Give me a simple measurement boundary guide for beginners.
Where can I connect with other businesses to share experiences?
Recommend further reading or case studies for my team.

Climate-Smart Tourism: A Toolkit for Climate-Smart Business

Even small companies can make a

big change

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to find ready-made templates and examples with your chosen AI tool.

Map Your Emissions

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to identify and understand your emissions with your chosen AI tool.

Resources & Templates

AI PROMPTS:

Use these prompts to find ready-made templates and examples with your chosen AI tool.

Climate-Smart Tourism:
A Toolkit for Climate-Smart Business