Körnerpark, Berlin Berlin has recorded its strongest performance to date in the Global Destination Sustainability Index, ranking third among participating cities with more than 1.5 million inhabitants.
With a score of 85.18%, the German capital moved up one place and gained five percentage points compared with 2025. Sydney and Montreal were the only cities in its large-metropolis category to rank higher, while Berlin placed 14th in the overall global table.
The GDS-Index measures destinations across environmental performance, social progress, supplier engagement and destination management. Berlin’s improvement reflects a wider strategy led by visitBerlin, combining climate action with accessibility and more responsible event delivery.
Among the measures supporting its progress are the Sustainable Berlin certification programme, a tourism Climate Roadmap and the Travel for All accessibility initiative. More than three-quarters of the city’s larger hotel-room inventory and 81% of the congress venues assessed now hold third-party sustainability certification.
Sabine Wendt, Managing Director of visitBerlin, described the result as the product of city-wide cooperation. “Third place among the major cities shows what we have achieved together,” she said, adding that the recognition was also an incentive to continue making sustainability tangible for residents and visitors.
Berlin has also linked sustainability to its business-events strategy through measures including event certification, a dedicated scorecard within the Berlin Congress Fund and climate planning for the visitor economy.