Due to the financial constraints on the part of the educational institution as well as the student, offsetting the GHG emissions generated by the fieldtrip is often not regarded as financially feasible, or subject to doubts about the integrity and implementation of carbon-offsetting. Furthermore, there are other pressures such as increasing institutional concern about liability issues which pose further challenges to the fieldtrip tradition. Positioned in this context, the notion of a ‘virtual’ fieldtrip supported by students conducting real fieldwork offers a very attractive option to harness many of the pedagogical benefits of real fieldtrips, while minimising the production of GHG emissions. Innovation in the form of significant advances in virtual reality software over the last decade is at the heart of this opportunity, which allows students to learn about the rationale for and practice of sustainable development in a very vivid manner while minimising their own contribution to environmentally unsustainable activities. The overarching aim of the paper then is to discuss the concept of virtual fieldtrips as a mechanism to directly and indirectly reduce GHG emissions through innovative use of ICT. Specifically, the paper’s aims are as follows:

• Provide a brief overview of how a virtual fieldtrip can be implemented
• Examine the reduction in GHG emissions achieved by conducting a virtual instead of a real fieldtrip
• Discuss the climate change-related educational implications of conducting a virtual fieldtrip which focuses on sustainable tourism development