Welcome To
A legacy to Maurice Strong (1929-2015) Sustainability and Climate Champion for the Planet
Who We Are
Welcome To
A legacy to Maurice Strong (1929-2015) Sustainability and Climate Champion for the Planet
Who We Are
Welcome To
A legacy to Maurice Strong (1929-2015) Sustainability and Climate Champion for the Planet
Who We Are
We are a not for profit legacy for the late Maurice Strong (1929-2015) a lead architect of the UN Sustainability and Climate response framework. We host programs to support this framework in the important Travel & Tourism sector.
A program to build a Climate Friendly Travel global ecosystem – Paris 1.5 degree and SDG linked. Targeted towards the world’s poorest countries and with an important focus on young people, See www.thesunprogram.com.
A scientific program designed to provide independent science based analysis of the intersect between the climate crisis and tourism.
We are an EU based, global not for profit organization, created by Professor Geoffrey Lipman in 2010 to carry on the vision of his friend and mentor Maurice Strong and apply it specifically to the Travel & Tourism sector.
We conceive, create and manage programs to help Travel & Tourism Stakeholders meet the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2030) & the Paris 1.5 Agreement (2050)
Maurice Strong played a unique and critical role in globalising the environmental movement. He led the historic United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1972. This was the first international conference on environmental issues, and it resulted in the founding of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Six months later, he was elected by the UN General Assembly to become UNEP’s first Executive Director at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, a role he held until 1975.
In June 1992, he led another landmark meeting: the UN Conference on Environment and Development – also known as the Earth Summit – it was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The conference addressed climate change and underscored the right to sustainable development, among other topics.
The Prime Minister, of CanadaJustin Trudeau, issued the following statement, after learning of the death of Maurice Strong:
“I was very saddened to learn of the death of Maurice Strong. On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie & I offer deepest condolences to family, friends, & colleagues.
“Mr Strong was an internationally recognized environmentalist and philanthropist who used his remarkable business acumen, organizational skills, and humanity to make the world a better place.
“In his career he took on extraordinarily challenging positions at the United Nations, including Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. He was also first Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Executive Co-ordinator of the United Nations Office for Emergency Operations in Africa, and was a member of the World Commission on Environment and Development.
“More recently, Mr. Strong was Secretary-General of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. He was a driving force behind achieving the Kyoto Protocol. In addition, he was considered a legend at the Canadian International Development Agency that he headed earlier in his career.
“For his work, Mr. Strong received numerous conservation and humanitarian awards as well as honorary doctorates from multiple universities. He was a Companion of the Order of Canada and a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.
“Mr. Strong was a global pioneer of sustainable development who left our country and our world a better place. His accomplishments will be remembered and honoured for years to come."
Maurice Strong’s other notable appointments included: Under-Secretary-General and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General, Senior Advisor to the President of the World Bank, Senior Advisor to the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), Foundation Board member of the World Economic Forum, and member of the Brundtland Commission. He also had an expansive career in the private sector, where he led some of Canada’s most prestigious energy companies.
“He deeply incorporated the World Economic Forum’s mission of improving the state of the world into everything he did. He was a great visionary, always ahead of our times in his thinking. He was my mentor since the creation of the Forum: a great friend; an indispensable advisor; and, for many years, a member of our Foundation Board. Without him, the Forum would not have achieved its present significance.
I am grateful to him for his guidance and partnership. I will always remember the hundreds of hours where we exchanged ideas. I will miss not only his advice but also his humour. A great person has left us, but he certainly contributed to make the world a better place.” Klaus Schwab Exec Chair & Founder World Economic Forum
Geoffrey Lipman met Maurice Strong in Geneva in 1990, when he was helping to set up WTTC as its first President (1990- 2000). Strong was preparing his second Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, which Lipman attended. Thhey became friends and attended numerous International events together in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Later Lipman joined Strong in his work on tourism in China. In 2010 Lipman created a not for profit foundation Green Growth & Travelism Institute and later SUN – the Strong Universal Network to focus on the intersect of the emerging ‘existential’ Climate Crisis (the x in SUNx) and tourism. In 2022 the Institute hosted the TPCC Tourism Panel on Climate Change, incubated in the STGC in Saudi Arabia. In 2024 GGTI became the Sunx Institute
The TPCC is an independent science-based international collaboration bringing together thought leaders around the world to inform and rapidly advance climate action across the global tourism system.
