SUNx and ICTP are about to launch the New Year’s KISS4Climate fund, and are calling on Travel & Tourism Countries and Cities, and also travelers for support.

KISS stands for Keep it Simple Stupid.

Professor Lipman explains: ” All we want is for every Country and City that has a New Year’s Fireworks Show to give 5% of next year’s budget for fireworks to a fund for Climate Friendly Travel Scholarships. This fund will benefit young graduates from the World’s poorest countries.”

“I got this idea watching the fireworks to start the New Year in New Zealand.,” Prof. Lipman explains. “I am thinking this is going to happen in so many developed countries around the world. I remembered the enormous fireworks welcoming tourism ministers and delegates to the WTTC summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last month.

“If a tiny percentage could make such a difference to the world’s poorest countries – especially if used to build the next generation of leaders.

“We will call on the World Tourism Community to support this and target the Heads of State that will attend the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Doha, Qatar on March 5-9 to endorse the idea.”

Over five days of the LDC5 Conference in Doha, world leaders will gather with the private sector, civil society, parliamentarians, and young people to advance new ideas, raise new pledges of support, and spur delivery on agreed commitments, through the Doha Programme of Action. At the Conference, it is expected that specific initiatives and concrete deliverables will be announced that will address LDC-specific challenges.

Lipman continued: “We will provide Scholarships at ITS in Malta for these Students for our Climate Friendly Travel Diploma

“Travelers will join our Climate Friendly Travel Club and 10% of the annual fee will be put into the fund. They will get a unique carbon compensation initiative plus a clean and green rewards program.”

The International Climate & Tourism Partners (ICTP) is an initiative under the World Tourism Network (WTN) with tourism stakeholders in 129 countries as members.

WTN chairman Juergen Steinmetz said: “We’re excited to team up with Geoffrey and SunX to support such an initiative. KISS4Climate New Year 2024!” Click here to contact ICTP to be part of KISS!

Extract from e-Turbo News 31^st December 2022

When we launched our evolving CFT framework in 2020, capped by the formal inauguration of the CFT Registry, with the active engagement of the Tourism Minister of Malta, the Executive Secretary of UNFCCC and the President of WTCC. At that time we had a vision and very limited experience of its implementation.

Then COVID hit and everyone’s world turned upside down. Survival replaced sustainability in the human vision - and for sure in the Travel & Tourism agenda. For SUNx Malta, thanks to our agreement with Malta Tourism, financial survival was not the main issue, rather the survival of our core concept of Climate Friendly Travel with its central focus on the existential Climate Crisis and a “Plan For Our Kids”

Now after 2 years of market place operation, we have learned a lot. Some early institutional supporters have left, the issue of Tourism and Climate Change has been placed on the UNFCCC Agenda, the Travel & Tourism Industry led by IATA has embraced the Net Zero Mantra and the STGC in Saudi Arabia has created a TPCC to neutrally track the metrics. And our Registry continues to grow steadily with new signatories every week – not from the big players we originally expected -  but from the SME’s all over the world across the tourism value chain – not just hotels as we expected but a whole range of tourism service providers committed to climate & sustainability action (check it out here). Our current free CFT framework is below.

If you are in the Travel & Tourism sector – community or company – we’d love to have you in our growing CFT world. Entry is totally free and we commit to help you deliver Climate & Sustainability Action Plans.

Mark Bibby Jackson talks with Farai Chimba, President of Climate Friendly Travel Registry (CFTR) member, the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe about CFT and sustainability challenges in Africa.

Farai is currently halfway through his two-year stint as President of the 71-year-old trade association that represents hotels, restaurants, clubs and related establishments throughout the African state. Previously he had served as its Vice-President and before that he was the Chair of the Victoria Falls chapter. He is also the General Manager of The Victoria Falls Hotel, one of the most prestigious hotels in Zimbabwe. I managed to catch him in London at the recent World Trade Mart.

Sustainable Tourism

“It’s all part of a wheel; you need all the cogs in place to make the wheel go forwards,” Farai continues. His message is that environmental sustainability in isolation is not feasible, it has to be interlaced with social and economic sustainability.

He sees the travel and tourism sector as playing a crucial role in this, especially in his home country of Zimbabwe. Farai believes that, despite the advent of virtual tours, it is most important to maintain the “physical visitation” element of travel if we are to “sustain the local community”.

Traveller trends are changing with more people asking hotels such as The Victoria Falls how they offset their carbon footprint. However, he believes that as people are considering travelling less frequently to minimise their own carbon footprint, they should also ensure that their travel has a greater positive impact upon both community and the environment.

“It’s more about how you travel,” Farai reflects, adding that tourism helps to maintain the natural environment. He cites the example of Covid during which he saw an increase in poaching as tourism disappeared.

It also encourages people to be more innovative. “To see how well nature is preserved in places like Zimbabwe can be inspirational,” he says.

Joining the Sunx Malta CFT Registry

Recently, the HAZ joined the CFTR. The membership of the trade association ranges from big hotel chains to restaurant owners, although the majority of the membership comes from lodges and hotels. It has more than 200 active members.

Farai hopes that by joining the CFTR he will “bring exposure to our membership and the country to the best practices internationally.”

He encourages members to contact SUNx directly – and to join the CFTR individually – “to better enhance the industry, and to transfer skills and knowledge.”

Putting Words into Action

The Victoria Falls Hotel, built in 1904, is the oldest luxury hotel in Zimbabwe and member of the Leading Hotels of the World. In this role as General Manager he is putting his words into action.

The hotel has implemented sustainability practices to give it a positive operational carbon footprint, through recycling, reducing and reusing. It also has created a centre of excellence to train peers and the community. Some 10 sustainability projects have resulted from training sessions held at the centre.

Their flagship waste separation project produces organic compost. They have also invited the local community to realise the importance of waste separation, assisted with creating sustainability gardens and other income generating projects for communities based on recycling and organic farming methods, as well as working closely with local schools.

In 2020, The Victoria Falls Hotel converted to 100% non-plastic water bottles, as well as introducing LED lighting, and replacing their plastic laundry bags with old linen pillow cases. They have also used technology to reduce their carbon footprint, for instance turning off air conditioning units when guests are not in their rooms, and reduced the amount of produce they import.

So far the hotel has not assessed its carbon footprint, but Farai would be interested in exploring the possibility of doing this with one of SUNx Malta’s SDG-17 partners. He would also be interested in examining how The Victoria Falls Hotel could receive carbon credits in recognition for the work they have carried out so far.

The Way Forward

Farai believes that this cooperative approach is the way forward for the sector.

“There are many ways to grow tourism sustainably,” he says. “We have to look beyond borders to be able to leave something for the next generation.” Becoming part of the Climate Friendly Travel community creates a pathway to achieving this.

SUNx Malta is delighted to have the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe as part of the SUNx Malta CFT community, and looks forward to building greater partnerships with it and other members in the future.

 

Mark Bibby Jackson chats with Ged Brown, director of Low Season Traveller, about the series of Climate Friendly Travel Podcasts that will launch next month during COP 27 in Sharm el Sheikh Egypt.

Sometimes the best collaborations stem from the most serendipitous circumstances. Earlier this summer Ged Brown, director of Low Season Traveller, was having lunch with SUNx Malta President Geoffrey Lipman, when it occurred to them that they should work together.

The pair had known each other for 15 years since Ged had worked for Routes, and they had followed each other’s careers. “We are on the same page,” says Ged.

Growth of Podcast

They agreed that although SUNx was doing a lot of good work with its

various programmes, perhaps the message was not being conveyed clearly to as wide an audience as possible. So the pair of old friends came up with the idea of producing a series of Climate Friendly Travel Podcasts to launch in November 2022.

“Our Low Season Traveller podcasts are extremely popular,” says Ged, adding that especially since Covid people have turned towards podcasts for both entertainment and information. In many ways it is replacing the radio.

Ged attributes the increasing popularity of podcasts to us having less time in the modern world. People can listen to a podcast while doing something else, such as commuting to work or going for a jog. Ged himself listens to podcasts while going on his daily morning run. “It allows us to double up our time,” he says.

Climate Friendly Travel Podcasts

Although there are hundreds of travel podcasts out there – including Ged’s own Low Season Traveller podcasts – up to now are devoted to Climate Friendly Travel.

“We are focusing on people in the industry,” says Ged. “We’ll let them shout about the good things they are doing and inspire other people and our listeners.”

Ged strongly believes all of us working within the travel and tourism sector need to share information with one another. Drawing parallels with the aviation industry in which he was working when he first met Geoffrey Lipman, he says that when it comes to the planet and our future existence we all need to share our successes and failures.

“In aviation, every airline works together when it comes to safety,” he says. He hopes that the series of podcasts can serve a similar bonding role within travel and tourism.

Just a Chat

The series is open to anyone who has joined the Climate Friendly Travel Registry (CFTR). Although Ged believes that the audience it will reach will be far wider than a group of industry insiders. The intention will be to focus on the good work that people are doing – “a podcast of hope” is how he describes it.

According to Ged, a large proportion of the people he interviews is understandably nervous before appearing on the podcast, something he tries to allay.

“It’s just a conservation between you and me,” he says, “where I represent the audience.”

It is also very informal. Although mistakes can be edited out, Ged prefers to let things flow, recounting one time when he knocked over a glass of water in a podcast making quite a noise. He kept it in the final recording – “it made it more real and authentic.”

“At the end people always say how much they enjoyed it,” Ged adds.

The Podcasts

Currently Ged is recording the first ten podcasts, starting with Professor Lipman. Other people lined up include CFTR Registrar Hans Friederich, Christian de Boer who will talk about single use plastic, Galeo Saintz on the importance of nature trails, and Nikki Mattei who will discuss sustainable hospitality.

The idea of the podcast is to give voice to anyone who has joined the registry and allow them to share the good work they are doing, although Ged is keen to look for more podcasts from people in Africa and Latin America.

“We are all on a journey towards climate friendly travel,” says Ged. “Baby steps are fine, but if we all take a small step together it will result in a huge leap for climate friendly travel.”

The Climate Friendly Travel Podcast will allow you to inform everyone of the steps you are taking upon your journey towards climate friendly travel.

 

To get involved in a podcast, contact Ged at ged@thesunprogram.com, or email hans@thesunprogram.com to join the CFT Registry.

Mark Bibby Jackson talks with Hans Pfister, Chairman of Climate Friendly Travel Registry member, the Cayuga Collection about their climate action initiatives.

Location, location, location used to be the mantra for business success, but talking with Hans Pfister, President and Co-Founder of the Cayuga Collection, you might begin to feel that another L word has become more important.

“Our focus on local is key,” says Hans, who launched the Cayuga Collection of sustainable luxury hotels and lodges almost twenty years ago. The management company now has eight lodges in its portfolio – six in Costa Rica, plus one each in Nicaragua and Panama.

“We specialize in small remote luxury hotels that have a strong focus on sustainability,” he says. “The most important thing is that we click with the owners of the properties that we have a really good chemistry and that our values are aligned because if our values are not aligned, it's going to be trouble.”

Resorts also have to be luxury and in good locations, although over the past couple of decades Hans has shown a willingness to explore new destinations.

“Many of the properties when we started managing them were located in not very popular tourist areas,” he says. “Then tourism started to come in. So we’re definitely also pioneers in that way.”

Hans believes it is important they attract a “healthy” type of tourism to protect and preserve the local communities and ecosystems surround us.

“We definitely want to leave the place where we operate our hotels better than what we founded,” he says.

He cites as an example the Isla Palenque Resort in Panama, where the manager has just sent him a video of an ocelot roaming close to one of the villas – it is something they had not seen before.

“I've actually seen wildlife improve over the years, which is not typically what you see when tourism happens,” he says.

It is now that Hans mentions the L word.

Redefining Luxury

“Our concept of luxury is really local, it’s in terms of food as local as possible, as fresh as possible,” he says, adding that their philosophy of what constitutes luxury lies far removed from “the Dubai model of golden faucets and marble … and very artificial things.”

Inevitably this involves an element of education for guests while they are explained that salmon is not on the menu, nor imported Italian meat or cheeses, and other commodities normally associated with luxury. However, they soon understand.

“To many of our guests, just the fresh fruit that we serve is a huge luxury,” he says, adding that they are blessed by the produce available in Central America. “We’re trying to merge, sustain or find the symbiosis of luxury and sustainability.”

This applies as much to the decorations – “no furniture imported from Morocco” – as to the wine, which comes from Latin America, the food which is sourced very locally, and the toiletries they use.

“In many luxury hotels around the world, you’ll find that amenities are imported from France,” he says. “We try to find them locally made, hopefully organic and biodegradable.”

“We really want our guests to connect with local culture, local nature, local people, local food, local art, and all of that,” he says “And we want them to have experiences that take a little bit out of their comfort zone.”

Local also extends to the community, not just in buying locally, and supporting local business, but also in creating meaningful and lasting local employment.

“It’s not just the maids and gardeners that are local. It’s everybody, it’s the managers, the chefs,” he says. “It’s an amazing motivator for entry level positions to see that somebody like them can make it up to the very top. We have many examples of a receptionist working for us for 10 years, becoming the general manager of a hotel, a construction worker becoming the operations manager, a gardener becoming the food and beverage manager, etc. So that’s, that’s really, really important.”

Joining the Registry

Recently Hans took the decision, like 100 other enterprises, to join the Climate Friendly Travel Registry (CFTR).

“We have joined the Climate Friendly Travel Registry because I thought it was a good initiative, I wanted to support it,” he says.

“We do understand that climate is the challenge that we are all facing right now and that unfortunately it has gotten a little bit in the background with all the other crises that we’ve experienced.”

Encouraged by CFTR Registrar and namesake Hans Friederich, Hans took the unusual step to register all the properties separately. 

Hans sees the registry as being a vehicle for members to swap their own experiences towards achieving climate friendly travel, both good and bad.

“We’re happy to share our best practices, our experiences, everything we’ve learned, everything we’ve done wrong and had to redo,” he says. “We’re definitely happy to share the work we have done on measuring emissions. However, Our emissions are really very low since most of the electricity that we use is in Costa Rica, and is 99 point something percent made from renewables.”

Hans has found the major problem when it comes to measuring their carbon footprint is the prohibitive cost.

“It costs a lot of money to get those measurements, and then they [the emissions] are really not that big,” he says. “And so the impact is not that great. So what we’ve done is really measure them ourselves, to try to bring the numbers down, and see where we can save.”

Some measures they have introduced include introducing solar panels for heating, and water treatment management.

Transparency and Transportation

Hans also feels that transparency is crucial, in offering back of the house sustainability tours for guests.

“Any guest can go anywhere in the hotel. We have nothing to hide, not our water treatment plan, nor our employee sleeping and eating areas, our laundry or maintenance area, or recycling area,” he says. “So, we invite our guests to go on a back of the house tour, so they understand what it takes to be sustainable.”

The tour has proved extremely popular with guests.

“People are just really blown away, they make their suggestions and comments, and often get inspired to be more sustainable in their own way,” he says.

Part of his motivation for joining the CFTR was to learn more about transportation and how people arrive at their destinations, which he believes is the major issue facing the travel and tourism sector.

“We are in an industry that depends on people flying in from different parts of the world. How can we still be sustainable?” he asks.

“I know that we make a really positive impact here in the communities and with nature with our tourism model, but still people are flying in from the States, from Europe and obviously leaving a big carbon footprint. What is it that we can do differently to make this sustainable? I think that’s our big challenge, our big challenge for the next year.” ­

SUNx Malta is delighted to welcome all eight resorts within the Cayuga Collection to the SUNx Malta CFT Family and looks forward to building greater partnerships with them and other members in the future.

Mark Bibby Jackson talks with Jared Meyers, Chairman of Climate Friendly Travel Registry member, Legacy Vacation Resorts about their climate action initiatives.

Sometimes the enormity of the journey we all have to make towards GHG neutrality can have a paralyzing effect. Quite simply we do not know where to start. This is why it comes as such a relief to talk with someone who has already set out on that long road to preserve our collective future.

Jared Meyers is the Chairman of Legacy Vacation Resorts (LVR), a company that provides holidays for families across eight locations in the US, that create “lasting memories in a manner that respects the environment, employees and community.”

In 2018, it began its journey towards emission reduction, becoming a Certified B Corporation. Administered by the non-profit, B Lab®, B Corporation means that LVR has voluntarily met the “highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose through third-party review”.

Meyers explains that the B Corporation Certification process lasted a year and consisted of implementing a more sustainable business model. Measures included carbon footprint offsetting, waste reduction and enhanced recycling efforts, sustainable lifestyle awareness campaigns, green-focused renovation projects and a living wage initiative for employees.

Part of the B Corporation Certification involves adhering to the triple bottom line approach, i.e. people, planet as well as profit. LVR ensures a living wage for staff, inclusive health insurance and scholarship opportunities, promotes diversity and supports equity, and is a ‘Second-Chance’ employer.

Underlying all this LVR adopted a “holistic approach towards climate and social justice”, altering its governing documents to reflect this.”

Developing a Climate Action Plan

LVR has also developed its Climate Action Plan. This has involved practical measures such as installing Electric Vehicle Charging Stations at all eight resorts, a recycling program, installation of programmable thermostats, upgrade of light fixtures to efficient LED bulbs and installation of low flow faucets, showerheads, and toilets. They also converted their Brigantine Beach resort to 100% renewable electricity – wind and solar. This represents 16% of total electricity usage across their resorts.

“Our Science Based Targets (SBTs) set us on a path of achieving net zero emissions by 2030 in line with the goal of maintaining global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius,” says Meyers.

Where carbon emissions could not be reduced they were offset via their partner We Are Neutral.

“From when we started offsetting our carbon footprint in 2019, our total greenhouse gas emissions for the year were 6,268.46 tCO2e. In 2021, we projected our annual greenhouse gas emissions to be around 6,000 tCO2e which accounted for roughly a 4% decrease in our greenhouse gas emissions.”

Additional emission-reduction efforts include expanding on-site solar to their other Florida properties, completing LED retrofits in Reno, implementing water usage reduction projects at their Kissimmee and Indian Shores locations, eliminating single use plastics, and introducing programmable thermostats at their Indian Shores resort.

While to date most of their initiatives have been targeted at Scope 1 (direct GHG emissions) and Scope 2 (energy provider), in the future LVH will also focus on their upstream and downstream emissions (Scope 3).

“We are integrating a new travel and expense platform that allows team members to book the lowest carbon travel options while also balancing price points, leading to trackable Scope 3 emissions and expanded education,” Meyers says.

Joining the Climate Friendly Travel Registry

LVR recently joined the SUNx Malta Climate Friendly Travel Registry, becoming the first company to complete Part B, which involves developing a plan to reduce GHG emissions in line with the Paris 1.5C agenda.

“We hope by joining and supporting the Climate Friendly Travel Registry we can inspire and encourage the travel and tourism industry to become more regenerative so travel can achieve its full potential,” Meyers says. “We hope to gain new connections with other like-minded destinations, businesses, and organizations that align with our values.”

Meyers is happy to share the knowledge that LVR has gleaned along their path towards carbon neutrality with other members of the Registry.

“We hope to lend our knowledge and experiences we have had in our climate action journey as well as our B Corp journey. It is our intention to learn from others but also help others learn from our success and mistakes. When any of us make progress toward regeneration, we all win,” he says.

His advice to those struggling with the idea of developing a Climate Action Plan is simple.

“We would say that it is all about progress, not perfection. By simply beginning the conversations and planning towards a climate action plan you are already doing much more than many others.

“Take things one step at a time and begin by setting a baseline and measuring current emissions. Identify areas in which you can have immediate improvement and then others that will take longer to accomplish. Set reasonable goals for yourself and your business to ensure you do not become overwhelmed and can indeed achieve what you set out to do.”

Regenerative Tourism

Believing that travel can be a force for good. Meyers sees that initiatives, such as those adopted by LVR, are essential for the tourism industry – and that this needs to take on a regenerative component.

“We must immediately take action to regenerate our planet and communities, not just sustain the way they are now,” he says. “Travel should regenerate ecosystems and create harmony among all of its parts. “

He also believes that turning towards a more sustainable future represents sound business sense.

“Our company can’t survive if extreme weather events worsen and become more frequent,” he says, citing multiple wildfires, extreme heat, drought and a hurricane that affected their resorts last year.

“Beyond the humane reasons to act, addressing our climate challenges makes our company more resilient and future proof,” he says.

Mark Bibby Jackson explains why Climate Friendly Travel Services (CFTS) has been established to promote SUNx Malta’s SDG-17 partners, and how it can help cities and destinations both develop and implement their Climate Action Plans.

 I was talking to my cousin the other day. He has recently started a job helping companies develop their net zero strategies. The problem many of them are facing is that they have no proper baseline for their GHG emissions – they are literally starting at zero on their road to zero.

It is a situation in which many cities and destinations around the world find themselves. The intention is clear and heartfelt, but how do they set upon that journey?

At the same time there are many companies out there that have products and services which can help the cities and destinations travel along their journey, but they have difficulties in reaching their audience.

Zero GHG Future

This is why we have decided to establish Climate Friendly Travel Services (CFTS), a commercial company aligned with SUNx Malta’s core value of CFTS – the belief that climate change is existential and that tourism needs to be at the forefront of that response with real action directly aligned to the Paris 1.5 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), to achieve Zero GHG by 2050.

CFTS helps cities and destinations make their journey towards a Zero GHG future, to get ahead of the climate curve. We act as a matchmaker between SUNx Malta’s SDG-17 partners, and cities and destinations, opening doors and forging business matches.

How Does CFTS Work?

CFTS charges a small annual fee of €1,000 per destination (lower levels for small communities and companies). This provides them with full and continuous access to our advisory service that pulls upon decades of experience working in the area of climate change and its impact upon travel and tourism.

Some 10% of this fee is donated to SUNx’s Strong Climate Champions Program providing scholarships for young community climate leaders from the world’s least developed countries.

Within the SUNx System, initially, cities and destinations join the CFT Registry allowing them to develop their climate and sustainability action plans and display The Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) Eco-Badge.

Then CFTS comes into play. We provide a free consultation with our experts so we understand which products and services from SUNx Malta’s SDG 17 Partners are best suited. These solutions will then be tailored to a customer's specific needs. They then roll out the solution progressively over time to achieve their Climate Friendly Travel goals.

CFTS Partners

CFTS has a wide ranging portfolio of products which we can offer to cities and destinations through SUNx Malta’s current and growing SDG-17 partnerships.

These include free disaster risk assessment focused on climate impacts; downloadable mobile maps showcasing sustainable destinations with commission free direct bookings; energy and waste efficiency measurement and management; sustainability and climate planning support; travel offsetting, through carbon capture and community-based reforestation projects; and solar energy advisory support.

If you wish CFTS to add your services to our portfolio, please email hans@thesunprogram.com for information upon how to join the CFT Registry and/or sign an SDG-17 partnership with SUNx Malta.

Alternatively, to discover more about how CFTS works, visit our website: climatefriendlytravelservices.com.

To schedule a meeting with CFTS, email me at: Mark@climatefriendlytravelervices.com.

Let us help you deliver on your GHG-free commitments. The road to a Zero GHG future may seem daunting, but at least with our guidance, you don’t have to start at zero.

Mark Bibby Jackson is with Jenny Newell, Manager of Climate Change Projects at the Australian Museum in Sydney, winner of the Climate smART Award.

In April this year the Australian Museum in Sydney scooped the auspicious 2022 Climate smART Award at the Annual Awards Ceremony of the Leading Cultural Destinations (LCD) in Berlin. The award was granted by a jury of travel and tourism thought leaders as well as sustainability experts.

SUNx Malta has partnered with LCD since 2017 to present the Climate SmART Award. The last winner in 2020 was the Klima Haus Bremerhaven 8° Ost in Germany. In claiming this year’s award the Australian Museum held off stiff competition from the Klimahuset Oslo Natural History Museum (Oslo, Norway), and Hveragerði’s LÁ Art Gallery (Hveragerði, Iceland) for ‘Norðrið’.

“It’s not just about reducing emissions,” says Dr Newell, “it’s about collaborations.”  This she feels is one of the “wonderful things about the museum world” – the way that different institutions can work together, sharing experiences and even exhibitions. She also convenes the Museums and Climate Change Network.

However, Dr Newell is most conscious that at the moment institutions such as the Australian Museum are learning all the time about the needs of the public in order to address them. Audience research, both qualitative and quantitative, are useful tools.

Australian Museum Programmes

The Australian Museum has a series of permanent and temporary exhibitions, including “Changing Climate” which depicts the impacts of climate change in Australia, highlights solutions and presents a series of reflections from people with particular perspectives on climate change - a farmer, doctor, community leader, coral reef researcher and others.

“Capturing Climate Change” is an online exhibition to which people can upload their own photographs, in addition to some guest-curated segments.

‘Spark” was a temporary exhibition and virtual tour highlighting  10 top Australian innovations tackling climate change; from Australia’s first electric motorbike to flexible, printed solar panels, a microalgae bioreactor, videos of conservation volunteers and experts in cultural burning, a model of a regenerative farm, and more.

Future Projects

From July the museum will tour Australia with the pop-up “Future Now”’ exhibition, featuring three dioramas of sustainable landscapes, aimed at engaging those people who feel that they have other priorities than climate change. The exhibition will be on display in public places, such as shopping malls.

Dr Newell believes that it is important to ensure that the messaging is positive. While it is vital to identify how serious the issue of climate change is we also need to discuss what people can actually do to address this.

Part of the project is aimed at getting feedback from the public about which questions most concern them. “If you could ask an expert a question about climate change what would it be?” she suggests. The museum hopes to develop as a platform for communities to share their climate stories and experiences.  Another related project in the pipeline is developing a climate trail through Sydney.

Learning from First Nations People

In addressing the challenges of climate change we can all learn much from the knowledge of First Nations People.  “We need to realise we are part of nature,”
Dr Newell says. “To tackle climate change we need to take care of nature, and to do this we need to learn from First Nations’ knowledge and stewardship.”

The Australian Museum has space devoted to First Nations knowledge, such as the part of the ‘Spark’ exhibition that focused on cultural burning

Getting Its Own House in Order

In order to reduce its own carbon footprint the museum has a Sustainability Action Plan. The next plan, about to be published, includes climate audience research and climate communications.

The museum is the first in Australia to be carbon neutral, having changed its energy and waste management, as well as introducing solar panels, and aiming to electrifying at least some of its fleet soon. Currently, part of its carbon neutrality is achieved through offsetting; while this is supporting important ecosystem regeneration projects, there are plans for the museum to eventually become carbon positive.

Getting the Message Out There

Finally Dr Newell believes that the creative side of the museum is as important as its educational component. Hopefully this Award will help them do just that.

• Mark Bibby Jackson talks with Torben Berner of Climate-Friendly Travel Registry member, Camping Outdoor Denmark about the rapid transformation in the sector and his hopes for a sustainable future.

• One of the undeniable ways that Covid has impacted upon the travel and tourism sector has been an increase in domestic tourism or “staycations”. One area that has benefited from this surge has been the domestic camping and glamping market. No longer is camping perceived as a Spartan ordeal only pursued by those who cannot afford to fly overseas, but as a way to get connect with nature.

  “The way that people look at camping has changed enormously,” says Torben Berner, Board Member of Camping Outdoor Denmark (CODK).

Danish Camping – Remarkable Growth

The last three years has seen a remarkable growth in camping in Denmark, according to Torben.

“They come from all walks of life,” he says, adding that glamping, the more luxurious cousin of camping, has “been a huge success.”

Torben believes that camping’s popularity is not just a passing fad. Part of the reason for his confidence is the increased awareness of the climate implications of flying highlighted by pressure groups such as the No-Fly Movement, and campaigners including Greta Thunberg.

“People are getting climate conscious,” he says. “They have started looking into their back yards.”

For Torben a high priority is to create a sustainable camping sector both within Denmark and internationally. This is part of the reason why they created CODK several years ago. The organisation focuses on environmental issues as well as providing a political voice for its 250 members.

Developing Green Stay Certification

Torben is a firm supporter of the Green Stay certification program. Green Stay is a sustainability certification for Danish campsites based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), created by the Industry Association Camping Outdoor Denmark.

A Green Stay certified campsite has to contribute to five SDGs:

• 6 (clean water and sanitation), 7 (affordable and clean energy), 12 (responsible consumption and production), 13 (climate action), and 15 (life on land).

Currently, around 19 campsites have been certified, including Torben’s own campsite Vesterlyng Camping, – out of a total of approximately 500 campsites. These are rated according to agreed criteria, and annually inspected.

“For Camping Outdoor Denmark, it is important that certification and labelling is transparent and credible,” says Torben. “Therefore, fixed criteria have been created for the labelling, and the certification and control processes are carried out by authorised consultants.”

Torben admits that in part Green Stay is a marketing tool about “greening the image of the camping industry,” which is one of the “most environmentally friendly and sustainable forms of holiday”.

“The focus is on greening your environment,” he says, adding that Vesterlyng Camping gets 20 to 25 percent of its electricity from solar panels, with the ambition to make this 100 percent in the future.

Joining the Climate Friendly Travel Registry

Recently CODK has joined the Climate Friendly Travel Registry. The main reason for this was to share knowledge with other members.

“We can learn from experiences from other places,” Torben says. “It’s very valuable to learn from an international perspective.”

In particular Torben would like to work with other campsites in Europe and the UK to standardise and cooperate.

Sustainable Camping Sector

However, for Torben all considerations about how to create sustainable campsites have to be tempered against economic reality.

“I have to make a sustainable business too,” he says, adding that greater political will could hasten the transformative process. “We have to be patient and wait for the technology. Those are the realities that every business faces.”

As regards the impact of climate change upon the industry, Torben is clear. “People know the urgency,” he says. “This will only increase in the years to come.”

SUNx Malta is delighted to welcome Camping Outdoor Denmark to the SUNx Malta CFT Family, and looks forward to building greater partnerships with it and other members in the future.