NEW YORK — The World Travel & Tourism Council is calling on companies, and the travelers who support them, to make the industry climate neutral by the year 2050.

Timed to coincide with this week’s UN General Assembly meeting, the global organization representing the range of travel-related businesses — airlines, cruise companies, hotel chains and credit cards among them — rolled out its Sustainable Travel & Tourism Partners Initiative, which is centered around the idea of getting members to commit to the mission. Partners will be eligible for one of three WTTC recognitions, depending on whether they are at the beginning, middle or near the end of becoming a sustainable business.

The WTTC is working with the UN to accomplish its goal in ways that are in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty, said president & CEO Gloria Guevara Manzo.

The organization will also work with governments to offer incentives to businesses that invest in sustainability, such as using resources including energy more efficiently, reducing waste and conducting research that can yield cleaner products, such as fuel.

It is also incumbent on the industry’s leaders in the area to help mid-sized companies that don’t have the same expertise or resources, she said.

“The reality is a lot of our members are already doing a lot,” Manzo said, noting that earlier this year, for instance, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport became the largest airport in the world to be designated carbon neutral. “But there is not enough best practice sharing.”

Once the initiative is set in motion, likely over the next year, WTTC plans to launch a consumer-focused campaign aimed at rallying travelers around sustainable tourism. “Once we start having companies available and doing the work, then we can bring everyone on board,” Manzo said.