Sydney has been named the No. 1 Australian city on the Global Destination Sustainability Index and reaffirmed its position as a top location for business events and visitors.
Announced in Belgium, the index ranked Sydney 10th out of more than 100 cities, achieving its highest score ever. Melbourne finished in 24th place, while Brisbane ranked 33rd.
Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore AO, said the global recognition highlights how the City of Sydney continues to be a leader in sustainability, driven in part by its Sustainable Destination Partnership which supports the event and hospitality sectors to do business more sustainably.
“Taking strong action on climate change is one of our highest priorities, and given 75 per cent of global emissions are generated in cities, our action is critical,” she said.
“People across the globe already know that Sydney is an amazing place to visit and this ranking helps put our city top of mind when organisers are looking at vibrant and sustainable destinations to bring conferences and conventions.
“As the country’s leading sustainable destination, we’ll continue to make the conditions right to boost the visitor economy responsibly.”
Sydney also finished 2nd in the metropolis category, with Singapore taking the top spot.
Aligned with UN sustainable development goals, the GDS-Index evaluates cities on their sustainability efforts in tourism and events. It measures performance across four areas: environmental responsibility, social progress, supplier engagement, and destination management.
The index benchmarks cities against 77 criteria to measure the sustainability performance of tourism and business event destinations, and environmental and social strategies and outcomes.
The City of Sydney partnered with Destination NSW and Business Events Sydney on the submission for the ranking.
