Sustainable Spa Association co-founder and former group head of spa for Aspria, Lucy Brialey has been appointed as chair of the Global Wellness Institute’s (GWI) United Nation's (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative.

The 17 SDGs are included in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed by 193 states, which provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.

Originally launched in 2019, the GWI initiative aims to provide useful information for the other initiatives and for spa, wellness, fitness and hospitality professionals who want to contribute to the global efforts of helping people live richer, fuller and longer lives.

Brialey will succeed former chair Jean-Guy de Gabriac – owner of consultancy and training company Tip Touch International – and fill the position for the next four years.

Brialey told Spa Business she’s set out the following aims for the next 12 months to develop an awareness of the 17 goals in a way that is tangible to the wellness sector:

• Provide free downloadable SDG resources and education relevant to the industry that can be used to identify and measure SDG activity within a wellness business, organisation or association
• Share platforms where new information on SDGs is readily available and can be applied to wellness activity
• Encourage and support the industry to participate in reporting on their progress with SDG related activity to collate and share our collective impact
• Plan collective SDG events and targets each year.

Brialey will be supported by the initiative’s newly-appointed vice-chair Sarah Watterson, Resense's group spa and wellness operations manager with over 30 years’ industry experience.

As chair of the new initiative, Brialey said she’s ready to “set the intention to help build a strong sense of responsibility to sustainability for the global spa industry”.

“SDGs underpin the values of wellness and are a rewarding framework for positive change. Working towards these is a way to integrate sustainability into any organisation – every action makes a collective impact.”

Over the course of her term, Brialey hopes to:

• Build awareness of all 17 UN SDGs and how the global wellness sector can contributor to their success
• Promote collective action and provide a platform for data to allow sharing and reporting from the industry
• Provide education on how the SDGs and the 'Leave No One Behind’ commitment can inform CSR policy and business growth for the future
• Gather information to gain and share an understanding of the global wellness industry that can help it to improve on sustainable business practices
• Utilise the SDGs as a way to shed light on how the wellness industry supports and promotes sustainability for all.

Brialey.

“Within our industry sector there are some standout goals that relate well such as SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing and SDG 6 Clean Sanitation and Water, but I’m looking forward to helping to reveal how many more we as a collective industry will contribute towards no matter in a big or small way.”