Valletta, Malta September 27, 2023 / TRAVELINDEX / At an event at the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), Minister for Tourism, Hon. Clayton Bartolo MP, MTA CEO Carlo Micallef, and MD Malta Tourism Observatory Leslie Vella, launched 50 SUNx country programmes in the world’s Least Developed countries (LDCs) aimed at mitigating Climate Change. This is a key component of Malta’s commitment to be a global centre of Climate Friendly Travel,(CFT) as laid out in its 2030 Tourism Strategy

These Chapters will led by scholarship graduates of the Climate Friendly Travel Diploma run by SUNx Malta and The Institute of Tourism Studies, Malta which is supported by MTA and the Ministry of Tourism. They focus on the countries most affected by Climate Change. Earlier this year Malta confirmed another 50 scholarships for the world’s 39 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and 11 other countries affected by Climate Change.

The CFT Diploma is a world first and trains students to support Travel & Tourism companies and communities to be climate resilient and to pursue Climate Friendly Travel Growth; as well as in transforming to achieve Zero GHG emissions by 2050. It also trains them to help to build Climate Friendly Travel Communities – preparing them for jobs in Sustainable Transport, Hospitality, Destination Management or

Government Services.
The aim of the Chapters is to build a growing community of like-minded, thoughtful tourism focused, climate activists who are networked across the world’s developing countries. These Climate Champions will also encourage companies to join SUNx Malta’s CFT Registry where they can show their Climate Actions Plans.

Minister Clayton Bartolo expressed his support for the ongoing work to establish Malta as a centre for Climate Friendly Travel development and said:
“By providing scholarships to students from the countries most affected by Climate Change Malta is furthering its support of a global movement of Climate Resilience. These Chapters are important because they are designed to engage local stakeholders and play a small part in the global shift that is required to meet the central goal of the Paris Climate Accord of a 1.5oC limit to global warming by 2050.”

Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President SUNx Malta, said:
“Thanks to our support from MTA and the Ministry of Tourism we are building a global community of thousands of Strong Climate Champions, committed to local Climate Adaptation and emission reduction for the Tourism sector, in countries that are not usually the leaders in this field.

It is this next generation of Climate activists that will engage local industry and will focus attention on only the most critical components of the transformation – preparedness for the dramatic weather impacts – fires, floods & drought; as well as the need to peak emissions by 2025 for Climate Friendly Travel growth.”

About SUNx Malta – Strong Universal Network
SUNx Malta is a legacy for the late Maurice Strong, father of sustainable development. Its goal is to advance Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) ~ low carbon: SDG linked: Paris 1.5. Its goal, with Malta’s Ministry of Tourism and Malta Tourism Authority, is to advance CFT, to create a UNFCCC-linked CFT Registry, and to promote CFT Education. It plans to put in place 100,000 Strong Climate Champions by 2030 across all UN states.