Berlin's rise to the top 5 of the world's most sustainable cities

Berlin, 17 October 2024 Berlin is consolidating its position as one of the world's most sustainable metropolises and occupies one of the coveted top spots in the most important international sustainability ranking for the tourism and events industry. Among major cities with more than 1.5 million inhabitants, Berlin has moved up to fifth place in the Global Destination Sustainability Index and achieved an overall performance of 76 per cent - out of around 100 destinations from all over the world. The ranking was announced at the GDS Forum in Bruges.

Sabine Wendt, Managing Director of visitBerlin: ‘Berlin is deservedly among the top 5 most sustainable international metropolises. This is the result of the excellent cooperation of many committed partners for the future of the city. Together, we are working to make Berlin one of the most climate-friendly and liveable city destinations and congress metropolises in Europe.’

Berlin is one of the five most sustainable metropolises in the world
The German metropolis' positive ecological, social and economic development is demonstrated by its repeated excellent ranking in the global competition of the most sustainable destinations. Berlin is directly behind Singapore, Sydney, Paris and Melbourne. The 77 qualitative and quantitative criteria of the ‘Global Destination Sustainability Index’ confirm the positive development of these cities. The aim of the ranking is to promote sustainable and responsible tourism. The index evaluates these four areas:

1. urban environmental strategy and infrastructure
2. social sustainability performance of the city
3. sustainability commitment of the industry (restaurants, hotels, locations or congress centres)
4. strategies and initiatives of the destination management

Destinations with more than 1.5 million inhabitants were considered metropolises in the ranking.

Number of sustainable hotels has doubled
The ‘Global Destination Sustainability Index’ confirms the capital's sustainability efforts. A particularly positive trend can be seen in Berlin's hotel industry: 137 hotels with more than 75 rooms each now have sustainability certification. That is 50.4 per cent and represents almost a doubling.

visitBerlin is making a significant contribution to ensuring that the city is fit for the future. With the ‘Sustainable Berlin’ programme, visitBerlin supports tourism partners, leisure facilities, hotels, venues and event agencies on their path to greater sustainability. As part of the Berlin Restart Programme, ‘Sustainable Berlin’ is funded by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises. The ‘Berlin Congress Fund for Sustainable Conferences’ in turn enables conferences and congresses to be planned sustainably.

visitBerlin's innovative projects for more sustainability
The 15-minute city tourism and neighbourhood project has been further developed. The aim is to present Berlin travellers with interesting places within a 15-minute radius of their hotel. This means they can reach gastronomic, cultural and shopping highlights in an environmentally friendly way on foot or by bike. The ‘Going Local Berlin’ neighbourhood app, which has now been adapted to be accessible, has even more insider tips.

Together with the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises and the twelve Berlin boroughs, visitBerlin has also initiated the ‘Berlin Tourism Citizens’ Advisory Board’. The voluntary and independent committee consists of 24 citizens of the city and promotes the visibility of the tourism and convention industry as well as the participation of urban society. Public citizens' forums were held in 2023. Topics included the future of Berlin tourism, urban compatibility and sustainability.

And visitBerlin has also been successfully engaging in dialogue with Berliners for years through theHERE IN BERLINinitiative . The aim of the initiative is to promote and strengthen public acceptance of tourism. The HIER-Mobil regularly goes on neighbourhood tours to talk to the people of the city.

In the ‘visitBerlin's Sustainability Policy’, the tourism and congress organisation has formulated sustainability principles to complement its own sustainability strategy and to promote sustainability.

Networked for more sustainability
Since 2020, visitBerlin has been a member of the collaborative platformGlobal Destination Sustainability Movement(GDSM). The aim of the global sustainability movement is to help shape the transition to a sustainable tourism and event industry. Berlin's marketing organisation has also been involved in the ‘Destination Climate Champions Training Course’ run by The Travel Foundation and Expedia Group for the past six months. It focuses on sustainable tourism strategies for destination management organisations (DMOs). Together with over 30 destinations, visitBerlin is working on measures to reduce CO₂ emissions and improve the tourist experience.

Further information
All results of the Global Destination Sustainability Index at gds.earth. 
Details on the Berlin results here.
Further information on sustainable tourism development in Berlin can be found here. 
The visitBerlin website also has tips for a sustainable visit to Berlin.