SUNx Malta is going 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.
The 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 and tourism sector.
In other good news, the first registrant on the new Climate Friendly Travel Registry has linked to the UNFCCC Climate Action Portal – Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) from British Columbia in Canada. Together with the SUNx Malta Registrar Dr. Hans Friederich (formerly DG INBAR and senior IUCN executive) and Support Manager Rose Mukogo (formerly Board Zimparks) SUNx will be working with TOTA to help develop their own 2050 Climate Neutral and Sustainability plan and to engage their 4,000 stakeholders in the Registry. SUNx will also be reaching out to industry and government organizations for SDG 17 partnerships to bring their members on board together.
SUNx will start to work with SDG17 partner WTTC to engage its 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.
Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President SUNx (Strong Universal Network) Malta and President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), will be approaching old colleagues in UNWTO and IATA for their participation in this crusade against the existential climate crisis.
Said Professor Lipman, “We have about 10 years to get on track with the rest of the world if we start now, with bold but realistic ambitions.”
