Valletta, Malta, October 12, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / SUNx Malta goes live with its two practical programs to support company and community Climate Friendly Travel strategic transformation – linking our sector to the UN SDG 2030 and Paris 1.5 2050 frameworks.
First Climate Friendly Travel Diploma begins this week, with 36 young activists from 29 small island and developing states on scholarships from the Minister of Tourism of Malta Julia Farrugia Portelli and an inaugural global Susanne Becken scholarship. The course will be online with guest lectures from 25 leading thinkers on Climate and Sustainability, from inside and outside the Travel & Tourism sector.
Second we have received first registrant on new Climate Friendly Travel Registry linked to the UNFCCC Climate Action Portal – Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) from British Columbia in Canada. Together with our Registrar Dr Hans Friederich (formerly DG INBAR and senior IUCN executive) and Support Manager Rose Mukogo (formerly Board Zimparks) we will be working with TOTA to help develop their own 2050 Climate Neutral and Sustainability plan, and to engage their 4000 stakeholders in the Registry. We will also be reaching out to industry and government organizations for SDG 17 Partnersbips to bring their members on board together.
A key part of tbe Registry is our growing list of SUNxMalta SDG 17 partners with a powerful visibility linkage with Sustainable First which we believe will be attractive for Registrants.
Finally we will start to work with our SDG17 partner WTTC to engage their members and the industry in the context of their great G20 recovery Plan’s Sustainability window and UN Secretary General’s call for a Climate Friendly rebound for the sector.
On a personal note I shall be approaching my old colleagues in UNWTO and IATA for their participation in this crusade against the existential Climate Crisis.
We have about 10 years to get on track with the rest of the world if we start now, with bold but realistic ambitions
Prof Geoffrey Lipman
President SUNx Malta