Melbourne hailed ‘most sustainable’ meetings city in Asia Pacific

According to the Global Destination Sustainability Index, Melbourne is the most sustainable meetings city in Asia Pacific, a title that the city has picked up for the second consecutive year. The city and the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) was evaluated based on environmental performance, social performance, industry supplier support and MCB’s strategy and initiatives.

Melbourne’s highest ranking was in the category of supplier performance scoring 81% followed by convention bureau performance, achieving 80%. According to MCB CEO Karen Bolinger, the bureau has worked closely with the city to achieve this success. 

Initiatives have included a meeting planners tool kit to influence development and improvement of sustainability initiatives, a dedicated sustainability steering committee, access to sustainability resources, stakeholder education opportunities and supporting suppliers to obtain sustainability certification.

“We recognise that many clients want to host events in line with recognised sustainability standards, so we have enlisted a team of sustainability champions to inspire all our industry stakeholders to take action,” said Bolinger.

Sydney came in second in the region followed by Kyoto. In the global rankings, no other Asia-Pacific cities made it into the top 20.