SUNx Malta Launches Climate Friendly Travel Registry

SUNx Malta Launches Climate Friendly Travel Registry
climate friendly travel registry

Today during Climate Week NYC and in the side-lines of UN General Assembly, SUNx Malta launched a Climate Friendly Travel Registry for 2050 Climate Neutral & Sustainability Ambitions in partnership with the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), and Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA).

The idea of a Climate Neutral 2050 Ambitions Registry was built into the Paris 2015 Agreement, as a way for Parties to transparently declare and progressively increase their Carbon reduction ambitions through 2050, so as to secure global temperature stabilized at tolerable levels for human survival.

As a transformation catalyst this Registry will be open to all Travel & Tourism companies and communities, whether they have created a 2050 Carbon Neutral Ambition yet. It will cover transport, hospitality, travel services and infrastructure providers – from the smallest to the largest, anywhere in the world. It will also be a conduit to the mainstream UN Climate Action Portal.

SUNx Malta Launches Climate Friendly Travel Registry

Maltaโ€™s Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection, Hon. Julia Farrugia Portelli, opened the event by saying:

โ€œIt is with great pleasure that I want to announce here today, the launch of the SUNx Malta Climate friendly Travel Registry – linked to the UN Climate Action Portal. This is another important building block in Malta’s commitment to support the Travel & Tourism sector in the battle against existential Climate Change. It places our nation in the forefront of transformation for this economically vital sector to become low carbon: SDG linked for 2030 and on the Paris 1.5o trajectory for 2050.

And in that context, we are very pleased to welcome as launch partners the important World Travel and Tourism Council WTTC as an industry leader, and Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) as a destination leader. It is good that we share a common vision for a greener, cleaner future.

This launch is also very much in line with the EU Green Deal and the recent call by the UN Secretary General for post Covid-19 Tourism to be Climate Friendly.

Finally, it extends Malta’s proud tradition of being a global Registry for Shipping, into the Tourism sector, which is so important to our long-term Sustainable Development and that of the international community at large.โ€

Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC said:

โ€œThe Travel and Tourism industry has an enormous role to play and can have, through its actions, positive impacts.

As the U.N. Secretary General said: “It is imperative that we rebuild the Tourism sector in a โ€œsafe, equitable and Climate Friendlyโ€ manner and so โ€œensure Tourism regains its position as a provider of decent jobs, stable incomes and the protection of our cultural and natural heritageโ€.

To put it bluntly: this industry is being forced to change right now. But this also opens the opportunity to do things better โ€” more sustainably.โ€

Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said:

โ€œWe are delighted to be partnering with SUNx Malta and Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association on this incredibly important initiative. Sustainable growth is one of our key priorities, and our Members care deeply about Climate Change and sustainability issues.

As the body which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, we are committed to supporting the sector in developing ambitious climate strategies, and this time last year, during the first Travel & Tourism Climate & Environment Action Forum in New York, we revealed our sustainability action plan to lead the Travel & Tourism sector, which included our ambition for the sector to be climate neutral by 2050.

We would also like to take this opportunity to applaud and thank the Government of Malta, which has been a leader on climate resilience, for its continued support.โ€

“There is no greater threat to humanity than the climate crisis and now is the time for the Travel and Tourism sector and communities to take transformative action,” said Glenn Mandziuk, President and CEO of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association. “As part of our commitment to responsible and sustainable tourism, we are honoured to align with SUNx Malta as a launch partner for the Climate Friendly Travel Registry for 2050.”

SUNx Malta Launches Climate Friendly Travel Registry

Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President of SUNx Malta (Strong Universal Network) and President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), said:

โ€œSUNx Malta is proud to deliver this Climate Friendly Travel Registry, to help our sector deliver in the mainstream UN Climate & Sustainability Agenda, and we are grateful to the Government of Malta for their strategic vision and encouragement. It will be a vital support tool in the long-term transformation to cleaner and greener Travel & Tourism companies and communities. It will also help them to stay on track as they shift from aspiration to performance, in linking to the relevant Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate 1.5 trajectory, as well as meeting the intensifying regulatory framework.โ€

#rebuildingtravel

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz, eTN editor

Linda Hohnholz, eTN editor

Linda Hohnholz has been writing and editing articles since the start of her working career. She has applied this innate passion to such places as Hawaii Pacific University, Chaminade University, the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center, and now TravelNewsGroup.

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