More than one in three green-minded UK tourists would still not pay for carbon offsets
University of Portsmouth researchers found 63.7% of UK tourists with strong sustainability values would pay for carbon offsets, against 34.9% of the moderate group. Even in the strong-values group, more than a third did not say they would pay.
The Scientist · Science desk
Bar comparison of UK tourists who said they would be willing to pay for carbon offsets: 63.7% of those with stronger sustainability values against 34.9% of those with more moderate values.
UK tourists who said they would pay for carbon offsets, by values group In % said would pay
| Item | Value | Claim |
|---|---|---|
| Stronger sustainability values | 63.7% said would pay | 1 |
| More moderate values | 34.9% said would pay | 1 |
What happened
- The strong-values group also voiced more concern about global warming and was almost twice as likely to say it would pay to offset emissions.
- The researchers say sustainability-minded tourists should not be treated as one group, since some would pay extra and others would not despite strong stated support.
- The EU directive on misleading environmental marketing, Directive 2024/825, has applied since Sept. 27, 2026.
Why it matters
- decision Targeting by values narrows the pitch but does not settle it: an offer aimed at the strong-values group still meets refusal from more than a third of it, so take-up forecasts cannot assume agreement.
- constraint The 63.7% is what respondents said they would do in a survey, so it works as a planning ceiling for that segment until purchase data exists.
- capability Values give an operator a cheap sorting variable, since the two groups sit 28.8 percentage points apart in stated willingness.
The design limits what the numbers can say. Each tourist was scored on four kinds of sustainability value, covering respect for nature, tolerance, shared responsibility, and social equity and solidarity [3]. Those scores split respondents into two groups, and the authors compared the groups on concern about global warming and on willingness to pay for offsets [11].
Take the ratio first. 63.7 over 34.9 is about 1.8 [13]. The remainders matter more to a seller. In the strong-values group, 36.3% did not say they would pay [12], in line with the researchers' description of more than one in three as unwilling [2]. In the moderate group the figure is 65.1% [14].
The survey measured stated willingness, not purchases. Respondents said they would be willing [1], and the paper calls itself a values-based segmentation study [10]. A segmentation study sorts people into groups and compares them without testing a remedy. The press summary does not include the sample size, the offset price respondents were asked about, or the reasons given for refusing. Until purchase data exists, we'd treat 63.7% as a ceiling for that segment.
That bears on the authors' advice. They suggest offset providers explain what payments fund, how projects are verified and how environmental benefits are calculated [7]. The case is plausible, because consumers may find it hard to judge whether projects deliver what they promise [8]. But the advice is a suggestion drawn from a group comparison, and we'd read it as a hypothesis for an operator to test.
The EU directive is context for the finding, and the survey population is UK tourists [10].
Ekinci, a professor in Portsmouth's School of Strategy, Marketing and Innovation, said, "Sustainability values can help businesses understand which tourists may be more receptive to carbon-offset initiatives, but they should not assume that concern about climate change will automatically translate into a purchase." [6]
What to watch
- Purchase data from tourism operators that sell offsets, to see whether stated willingness near 63.7% shows up as actual payments.
- Any experiment that varies how an offset scheme is presented (what payments fund, how projects are verified) and measures uptake against a control.
- Whether the sample size, offset price and refusal reasons appear in the full paper in Sustainability.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence60
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
63.7% of tourists with stronger sustainability values said they would be willing to pay for carbon offsets, compared with 34.9% of those with more moderate values.
- [2]
Even among the more environmentally conscious group, more than one in three were unwilling to pay for carbon offsets.
- [3]
The researchers identified four areas of sustainability values (respect for nature, social equity and solidarity, tolerance, and shared responsibility) and used them to identify two groups of tourists with higher and more moderate sustainability values.
- [4]
Those in the higher-values group expressed greater concern about global warming and were almost twice as likely to say they would pay to offset carbon emissions.
- [5]
Sustainability-minded tourists should not be treated as a single group: some were prepared to pay extra, while others were not despite expressing strong support for sustainability.
- [6]
Sustainability values can help businesses understand which tourists may be more receptive to carbon-offset initiatives, but they should not assume that concern about climate change will automatically translate into a purchase.
- [7]
The researchers suggest offset providers need to make schemes credible, transparent and easy to evaluate, explaining what payments fund, how projects are verified and how environmental benefits are calculated.
- [8]
Carbon offsets let travelers pay toward projects intended to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere, but consumers may find it difficult to assess whether the projects deliver the environmental benefits they promise.
- [9]
The EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EU) 2024/825, which has applied since Sept. 27, 2026, strengthens protections against misleading environmental marketing.
- [10]
The paper is Omid Oshriyeh et al., 'Sustainability Values and Carbon Offset Willingness Among UK Tourists: A Values-Based Segmentation Study', Sustainability (2026).
- [11]
The research examined whether tourists could be grouped according to their sustainability values and whether these groups differed in their concern about global warming and willingness to pay for carbon offsets.
- [12]
36.3% of the strong-values group did not say they would pay for carbon offsets.
- [13]
The strong-values group's willingness rate was about 1.8 times the moderate group's.
- [14]
65.1% of the moderate-values group did not say they would pay for carbon offsets.
- [15]
The gap in stated willingness between the two groups is 28.8 percentage points.
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Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- phys.orgWhy caring about climate change does not always translate into greener holidays
1 article · October 14, 2026
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