As we head towards COP26 in Glasgow, the world has never been in worse shape.

The Amazon rainforests are now emitting a billion tonnes more carbon each year than they absorb. Societies the world over are being ravaged by wildfires, floods and landslides and climate scientists are telling us we’ve reached the tipping point in the acceleration towards Earth Death.

There are many daunting challenges facing peoplekind, but the issue of carbon and climate is the most pressing and it’s incumbent on all of us to do everything we can to find solutions.

In this special VAC edition of Attractions Management, we talk to an operator who’s made a commitment to putting climate action at the heart of its business, with significant success.

PortAventura World in Spain has been working on its ESG programme for years and announced recently that it has become carbon neutral, following a drive to reduce its environmental impact.

On page 44, PortAventura’s director of corporate responsibility, Choni Fernandez Veciana, talks us through how the operator has achieved Guarantee of Origin certification to confirm that 100 per cent of its electricity comes from renewables, while also achieving the recovery of 90 per cent of its waste.

PortAventura has shown that good intentions are even more powerful when combined with a commercial incentive and the key to saving the planet is emerging as a combination of the two.

We’re watching the work of companies such as Chris Sacca’s www.lowercarboncapital.com, with its mission to support businesses in ‘unfucking the planet’ by driving environmental improvements that also save or make money.

We’re calling on industry leaders and trade bodies to take action now and to commit to the industry being carbon negative by 2030.

We want to see them joining forces to promote carbon reduction initiatives and also making information available to attractions operators to empower them to adopt systems and practices that will both save them money, and help reduce the world’s carbon load.

All parts of the industry need to become exemplars of best practice when it comes to carbon – we want our industry to excel and lead the way, to achieve the valuable win:win of a healthier bottom line and a healthier planet.