At the end of February, Vicky had the privilege of attending the inaugural Climate Friendly Travel Think Tank organised by our partners SUNx Malta. The group gathered 35 international thought-leaders from across academia, industry and government to debate the key issues on Climate Change in relation to Travel & Tourism. The key takeaway is that the eXistential Climate Crisis requires even more urgent action by the entire global Travel & Tourism sector than has been generally recognised to date and we must get onto the Paris 1.5C trajectory within the next 7- 10 years.

On Monday 24th February, SunX Malta held the inaugural Climate Friendly Travel Think Tank, with support from Qatar Airways. SUNx Malta has been established through support from the Ministry for Tourism & Consumer Protection, and Malta Tourism Authority (MTA).

The goal was to review and update the first Climate Friendly Travel 2050 Ambitions Report which was released on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2019.

The Think Tank followed the core framework of Climate Friendly Travel: Measured (to Manage); Green (to Grow) and 2050-proof (to Innovate).

Climate Crisis Requires Urgent Action in Travel & Tourism:

The key calls to action from the Think Tank were:

• The Climate Crisis is eXistential: All stakeholders including Transport, Hospitality, Travel Services, and Infrastructure Providers must urgently start the transformation in 2020 to get onto the Paris 1.5C trajectory within the next 7- 10 years. Governments, Companies, communities and consumers, must all engage and take action now.

• “Climate Friendly Travel”: Under the banner of Climate Friendly Travel, the industry must adopt this as an imperative and the new norm.

• Fully transforming all modes of transport is pivotal: SUNx Malta’s call for a Moon-shot approach for aviation to further accelerate technological research and deployment was strongly supported, which must include the immediate distribution and rapid scaling up of currently available solutions to substantially reduce aviation fossil fuel reliance.

• Climate Financing: Citing the Green New Deal as an example, the Travel & Tourism sector must engage more actively with emerging Green Finance programs to be able to secure adequate funds for transformation. High quality offsetting of carbon impacts were seen as short-term transition instruments but totally inadequate as a long-term solution. In this context it was broadly believed that aviation action to date was falling behind the rapidly intensifying transformation need.

• Emerging innovations and technologies: Building refurbishment, cruise shipping, carbon reduction, waste to fuel transformation, developing consumer behaviour and digital opportunities.

• The SUNx Malta Climate Friendly Travel Registry of Ambitions: was reviewed and endorsed, as was the initiative with WISeKey to develop an innovative consumer facing secure platform.

• Education of the Next Generation: was underscored as a high priority with an emphasis on an accredited Graduate Diploma, from the Gozo Institute of Tourism Studies Campus. The SUNx Malta 100,000 STRONG Climate Friendly Travel Champions and as well as its school’s program is a very positive step forward to support company and community transformation. Additionally, improving the research base was underscored on both decarbonisation and sector resilience.

“We must act now and we must act fast.We’re already seeing with the emerging Malta collaborative framework between Government and the Travel & Tourism Supply Chain, that a pioneering approach can achieve this. It can be replicated around the world, as States seek to fulfil their Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contributions.” ~Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President SUNx Malta

Climate Friendly Travel

Leslie Vella, Deputy CEO of MTA, and Chairman of SUNx Malta, opened the event with an overview of why Malta has chosen to make itself a centre for Climate Friendly Travel against the backdrop of pushing the existential nature of Climate Change on the UN Agenda starting in 1987.

The First “Climate Friendly Travel” Sector Report, co-produced by SUNx Malta and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) in September 2019 and issued on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly, and in the context of Sustainable Development Goals, was reviewed and strongly endorsed, along with its key messages, including that Climate Friendly Travel can be a solution but that climate & carbon ambitions globally must increase.

The event concluded on 28th February in Qawra, Malta, with a ‘Town-Hall’ style session led by the Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection, Hon. Julia Farrugia Portelli, in which she addressed members of the SUNx Malta Climate Friendly Travel Think Tank on the Government of Malta’s commitment to the importance of tackling Climate Change, creating a model for a centre for Climate Friendly Travel. The Government of Malta, in its role as ally and partner, has committed to become a global Centre of Climate Friendly Travel.

The Hon Minister for Tourism stated that Malta is not just acting as a member of the international community in leading a global effort, but is putting on the forefront the Maltese tourism sector in addressing Climate Change by promoting Climate Friendly Travel through reduced emissions with the ultimate objective of carbon neutrality.

SUNx Malta

Malta has a strong tradition of spearheading initiatives of global environmental significance such as the initiative at the 1967 United Nations General Assembly that culminated in the adoption of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and Malta’s action at the United Nations General Assembly in December 1988 that inspired UN's resolution on the urgent need to conserve climate in the interests of mankind by protecting it against negative man-made changes and recognising climate change as a “common concern” requiring “timely action”.

“We are delighted that Malta has taken a leadership position on tacking the existential threat of Climate Change and creating a support framework for Travel & Tourism which can help companies and communities in the transformation required.” ~ Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President SUNx Malta