New Zealand’s town aims for carbon-zero tourism by 2030

Queenstown, New Zealand, renowned for its stunning landscapes and adrenaline-fueled adventures, is setting its sights on a bold and ambitious goal: to become the world’s first tourist destination with a completely carbon-zero visitor economy by 2030.

If successful, visitors arriving in Queenstown on New Zealand's South Island could do so on an electric-powered Air New Zealand flight and then travel to the town via an electric gondola or a hydro-powered ferry across the renowned glacier-fed Lake Wakatipu, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

In winter, skiers and snowboarders from around the globe will use electric chairlifts to reach the heights of the nearby ski resorts. Throughout the year, visitors can enjoy high-speed rides on Lake Wakatipu and the shallow whitewater rapids of the Shotover River aboard the world’s first fully electric jet boats. Even the TSS Earnslaw, the oldest coal-fired, passenger-carrying steamship in the Southern Hemisphere, will be converted to run on hydrogen.  

This initiative is part of the region’s bold ambition to be the first tourist town globally to achieve a carbon-zero visitor economy by 2030. Known as the "adventure capital of the world" due to decades of creating exhilarating activities that primarily rely on fossil fuels, Queenstown now seeks to become the ecotourism capital instead. The goal of a carbon-zero visitor economy in six years is significantly more challenging than simply achieving carbon neutrality, which could involve using carbon credits, such as planting trees.

Carbon-zero means there will be no carbon emissions at all. "Well, 2030 creates urgency, doesn't it?" Mat Woods, CEO of Destination Queenstown, asks rhetorically.

"2030 seemed so hard to achieve that it got the community excited. It means that everyone in the community has to be part of this [push to carbon-zero]."  

Queenstown faces a significant environmental challenge, largely due to concerns that its infrastructure is struggling to handle the influx of tourists. Situated around a large lake and bordered by the rugged Southern Alps, Queenstown has been a skiing destination since resorts opened in the 1940s. 

However, the growth of an adventure tourism economy that began in the 1960s has made the area one of New Zealand's most sought-after locations.   Last year, nearly 400,000 international visitors flocked to the town, marking a nearly 20 per cent increase since 2019, right before the pandemic. This is especially notable given that Queenstown has a resident population of about 50,000.

By Naila Huseynova