The Green Passport Campaign is an initiative of the International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development, firmly rooted in the move to accelerate a global shift towards sustainable consumption and production (SCP) that emerged from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg in 2002.

Governments participating in WSSD signed a Plan of Implementation under which they agreed to promote the development of a 10-year Framework of Programmes to support regional and national initiatives on SCP. The global effort to develop the 10-year Framework and to support implementation of SCP is known as the Marrakech Process (because the first meeting of international experts on the Framework took place in Marrakech, in 2003).

Task Forces have been created to support the implementation of concrete activities, and to focus on specific aspects of SCP. These voluntary initiatives—in which experts from developing and developed countries participate—are instigated by countries that undertake to participate—are instigated by countries that undertake to cooperate with partners in carrying out activities in support of the implementation of specific Marrakech Process projects.
The setting up of a Marrakech Task Force for Sustainable Tourism began when, in February 2006, the 9th Special Session of UNEP’s Governing Council focused on the subject. On that occasion, France announced its willingness and commitment to establish and chair an International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development (ITF-STD), under the Marrakech Process.

Working within the ITF-STD framework—and building on the need to improve the tourism sector's efforts to communicate with tourists on sustainable tourism through campaigns on sustainability issues—UNEP and its partners are developing effective communication tools. The Green Passport Campaign is one outcome of this process. The intention is to unlock the positive power of demand by raising tourists' awareness of their potential to contribute to sustainable development by making responsible holiday choices.