Raising passengers’ awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals

Lagardère Travel Retail and the Perception Change Project have partnered to create a pop-up store at Geneva airport, dedicated to raising passengers’ awareness of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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With access to millions of passengers passing through Geneva Airport every year, Lagardère Travel Retail has a unique chance to contribute to the public’s understanding of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations as part of their 2030 roadmap for Sustainable Development. We have partnered with the Perception Change Project of the United Nations Geneva to develop a pop-up featuring visuals, reading materials and videos about each of the 17 SDGs to demonstrate how these relate to our daily lives and how progress towards achieving them is within everyone’s reach. Awareness starts at the earliest stages and so a special area for children to draw and play has been set up inside the pop-up.

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Travelers are invited to find out more about each of the goals and the specific actions they can put to practice in their day-to-day life to achieve them. They can write their ideas for how to achieve progress towards a healthier planet, which will be presented to the UN and combined into a publication.

Lagardère Travel Retail in Switzerland and the Perception Change Project have also formed a partnership with Geneva-based Caran d’Ache, a maison with over a century of expertise in creating drawing and writing materials. As part of this partnership, a box of coloring pencils has been designed, featuring the SDGs on its top cover. The pencil boxes are available for use by travelers stopping by the pop-up.

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The International Geneva Perception Change project aims to highlight the impact of the work done by all of the UN and international organizations based in Geneva. Its efforts are centered around four main axes: making information accessible, changing the narrative, promoting the work of Geneva-based organizations and promoting the Sustainable Development Goals.

Commenting on this announcement, Tatiana Valovaya, Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, said: “This pop-up results from the cooperation between the United Nations, the private sector, civil society and individuals. It perfectly speaks to the goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. To tackle climate change, provide food, clean water and energy, education to everyone around the world, we must unite. I hope this cooperation can lead to many other public-private partnerships to advance the Sustainable Development agenda and create a more responsible future for all.”

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Pascal Le Droff, CEO of Lagardère Travel Retail Switzerland, also said:

“We see thousands of passengers passing through our stores every day. This gives us unrivalled access to contribute to increasing their understanding of the goals and most importantly, of what actions they can take to help achieve them, whether big or small. We are working hard to convey the message that Travel Retail can play its part in tackling the social and environmental challenges we are facing. With this pop up, and with the opening of the first ever eco-responsible store in Lagardère Travel Retail’s network, we want to support Geneva airport’s ambition to elevate environmental standards in the aviation industry.”

The pop-up space is located in the airport’s brand new East Wing, which is a major milestone of the airport terminal infrastructure and has been developed to meet the highest standards of energetic performance, using advanced technologies. It has officially been inaugurated on 3rd March, with the attendance of Tatiana Valovaya, Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, of André Schneider, CEO of Geneva Airport, and of Frédéric Chevalier, COO of Lagardère Travel Retail for EMEA.

Lagardère Travel Retail is committed to driving a more sustainable future for Travel Retail. The group’s CSR strategy is articulated around four pillars (Planet. Ethics. People. Social. – also known as PEPS) which are supported by tangible, measurable commitments to track progress.

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