Climate emergency: UNEP Patron of the Oceans embarks upon swim in Greenland

Ocean advocate and UNEP Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh is undertaking what he calls the most challenging swim of his career. He will swim across the Ilulissat Icefjord, fed by the world’s fastest-moving glacier, in Greenland.

The swim is expected to take two weeks. No one has ever attempted such a multi-day swim in the polar regions.

In November 2021, Lewis Pugh will attend the UN Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. He will use the story of his swim to impress upon world leaders the speed and gravity of the climate crisis. 

On the occasion of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Kunming, China, the UNEP Patron will also call for 100% of the ocean to be responsibly managed with ambitious protection for 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030.

Lewis Pugh will stress to world leaders the role that healthy ocean ecosystems play in both adaptation and mitigation to climate change; and the role of a healthy whole ocean in providing the ecological foundation for all life on earth. 

Read more here.

• On 7 September 2021, Lewis Pugh has become the first person to complete a multi-day swim in the polar regions
• Lewis Pugh has completed a 7.8-kilometre swim in the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland
• The Ilulissat Icefjord is fed by the world’s fastest moving glacier – moving at an average of 40 metres per day in summer The Ilulissat Glacier carves icebergs over 1 km tall – including, legend has it, the one that sunk the Titanic
• Lewis Pugh’s pioneering swim was in water temperatures between 0 and 3 degrees C. (32 -37.4 F)
• The swim was undertaken to highlight the speed of the climate crisis ahead of the UN Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, where Lewis Pugh will address world leaders and call for urgent action