Impact Investing Community to Support Climate Friendly Travel

Stockholm (Sweden) – November 12, 2018 (travelindex.com) – Speaking at the TBLI Nordic Conference, Professor Geoffrey Lipman, co-founder of SUNx (Strong Universal Network – a legacy to Maurice Strong) said that Travel & Tourism has enormous investment potential in the transformation to the New Climate Economy.

He underscored the global scale, scope and impact of the sector, as well its capacity to help deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals, because travel is hardwired into human DNA.

He focused on the existential reality of climate change as the pivotal challenge for humanity and stressed the critical importance of urgent action across the sector, to transform the complex mobility and hospitality infrastructure, its service delivery and its lengthy supply chains. He identified the Paris Accords and SDG-13 as our lifeline framework.

Lipman said that the full impact will only be felt by future generations, whether travellers, suppliers or communities, and he outlined SUNx “Plan for our Kids”, to create a change movement of 100,000 Strong Climate Champions by 2030. They will be advocates for Climate Friendly Travel ~ measured to manage: green to grow: 2050 proof to innovate. They will be supported by Maurice Strong Legacy Scholarships and the SUNx Lifetime Learning Program. They will be enabled by a growing network of SDG-17 partnerships and referenced agreements with IRISS and t-Forum for Tourism Innovation for Resilience Scholarships in Naples Italy, and with CBCGDF to extend the system in China and Belt and Road Countries.

He appealed to the Impact Investment Community, as well as the Travel & Tourism industry to get behind the program, through CSR driven commitment to a progressive, but urgent transformation plan that takes advantage of market and regulatory systems, within finite planetary boundaries.

Maurice Strong spearheaded the Stockholm Conference in 1972: the creation of UNEP; the Brundtland Commission and finally the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 – all of which spawned Agenda 21, UNFCCC: IPCC & the MDG’s and SDGs.

SUNx Scholarship packages cost just €5000 and give lifetime learning to 21 graduate students writing papers on Climate Friendly Travel. The best gets a €3000 award and the next 20 get free access to the SUNx Climate Portal. Where we aggregate best data: best practice: best transformation from across the sector and around the world. And link UN leadership on climate with industry action – inside and outside the sector. With 2 scholarships a year for every UN State, by 2030 we will have 100,000 advocates for Climate Friendly Travel. And a constant flow of new smart, climate conscious managers and leaders in our industry.

Contact information:
Geoffrey Lipman
glipman@thesunprogram.com
+32495250789
Olly Wheatcroft
olly@thesunprogram.com
+447765132408