Regenerative Travel - COP27 and Climate Week Events and Partnerships
About The Client
Regenerative Travel is a collection of eco-friendly and sustainable hotels that are collectively working to positively impact people and planet. They believe the travel industry can be designed to thrive and serve as a catalyst for change, generating economic, social and environmental wealth. Their mission is to help travelers and the travel industry develop a regenerative mindset and foster positive change to create a more equitable future through education, advocacy and collaboration.
OUR WORK
Our scope included concepting planning and programming for two major climate events. Climate Week New York City and the first ever Regenerative Retreat during COP27 in Egypt. This included nurturing and overseeing all sponsorship organizations and brands managing all content and media deliverables and overseeing and selecting all speakers and partners for all panels and fireside chat events.
Climate Week 2022 Neuehouse New YorK CITY
Over 100 climate activists, journalists, sustainability professionals and community members gathered at The Gallery stage at NeueHouse in New York City to discuss sustainability and community resilience through the lenses of regenerative travel and the ocean economy. The first session, moderated by Founder of Phocus Creative Group Brittany DeGirolamo, emphasized the need for industry leaders to spearhead and advocate for transformative ocean solutions to mitigate the climate crisis, from coral reforestation and sustainability-as-a-service to plant-based fish and deep sea mining moratoriums.
REGENERATIVE RETREATS AT COP27 IN EGYPT
In November of 2022 the 27th annual UN Climate Summit—known as COP27—concluded in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. World leaders converged on the Red Sea resort to discuss increasingly dire natural disasters, the war in Ukraine, climate reparations, and how best to accelerate the transition to net zero.The next generation of climate leaders gathered alongside to learn about regenerative tourism in Egypt and how to co-create a regenerative future at our first Regenerative Retreat in South Sinai at Basata Eco Lodge . We created Regenerative Retreats with the intention to connect climate leaders to immersive and authentic experiences in partnership with hotels and destinations rooted in local culture so they have an opportunity to reflect on their work and recharge to move forward.
During our inaugural retreat in Egypt post-COP27 at Basata Eco-Lodge, a 2 hours drive from Sharm El Sheikh, we explored the four major themes of the conference as well as what is needed in order for climate entrepreneurs to have the stamina to continue in our fight against climate change. Retreat activities included daily sunrise meditation and breath work, snorkeling, hiking and fireside conversations on our COP27 experience, reactions and insights.
Loss and Damage – The urgent need for a new fund to help countries deal with the immediate impacts of climate change. Rich countries have resisted this discussion for 30 years, fearing that since they played a major role in causing climate change, they will have to pay for it for centuries to come.
Phasing Out vs. Phasing Down Fossil Fuels – Richer countries wanted to phase out the use of the most polluting fossil fuel. Larger developing economies including India and China did not. They settled on “phasing down” rather than “phasing out”.
Keep 1.5 Alive – A rise of 1.5C is viewed by scientists as the threshold to very dangerous levels of warming – but there has been considerable worry here that the commitment to the idea would be watered down, especially as India and China were concerned it was no longer scientifically feasible.
US & China – The lack of cooperation between the world’s two largest carbon emitters is hampering the UN climate process and preventing other countries from around the world to move their climate commitments forward.