Who we are
The Sustainable Destination Partnership is a collaboration of hotels, backpacker hostels, serviced apartments, cultural institutions, entertainment venues and industry influencers working together to make Sydney a sustainable destination.
Working together
to make Sydney a sustainable destination
Credit: Hamilton Lund
Single-use items
Working to reduce single use items in our businesses.
Food waste
Working to halve food waste in our businesses.
Sustainable procurement
Aligning supply chains with our sustainability objectives.
Net zero emissions
Our net zero roadmap will support the decarbonisation of Sydney’s visitor economy.
Best practice waste management
Supporting our partners to divert 70% of waste from landfill.
Renewable Energy
Committed to a net zero carbon emissions future.
Why
Sydney is Australia’s leading destination for tourists and the gateway to NSW. The tourism sector is a vital component of the city's economy and an important contributor to national and international recognition of Sydney being a great place to visit, live and work. But this popularity comes at a price with accommodation and entertainment venues creating 47% of Sydney’s commercial waste, 21% of its carbon emissions and consuming 14% of its drinking water.
We are taking action
We are taking action. Sustainable Destination Partnership was launched in June 2018 with 40 founding members. These members represent almost half of Sydney’s hotel rooms, the majority of our well-known cultural and entertainment venues and key industry associations and supporters. The Partnership is one of many actions from the City’s Making Sydney a Sustainable Destination plan which seeks to reduce the environmental impact of the sector while saving money and attracting new customers.
Objectives
The Sustainable Destination Partnership will work collaboratively to:
- improve the environmental performance of Sydney’s accommodation and entertainment venues
- invest in renewable energy, recycled water, waste avoidance and management and other sustainable solutions that support Sustainable Sydney 2030 goals
- engage with regulators and governments on key environmental policy and regulatory issues
- champion and promote our objectives and outcomes to the broader sector and wider community.
Sustainable Sydney 2030-2050
Sustainable Sydney 2030–2050 Continuing the Vision is City of Sydney’s vision for a green, global and connected city. To help realise this vision the City set targets to achieve net zero emissions by 2035, divert 90% of waste from landfill by 2030, and reduce potable water use by 10% by 2030.
The Sustainable Destination Partnership is one of many City initiatives helping to deliver these targets and sustainability outcomes for Sydney.
Global Destination Sustainability Index
Since 2016 Sydney has participated in the Global Destination Sustainability Index, a global sustainability performance ranking scheme for tourism destinations.
In 2024 Sydney ranked 10th out over 100 destinations globally, and ranked as Australia’s most sustainable destination.
The Sustainable Destination Partnership is committed to improving Sydney’s GDSI ranking and will continue align our actions and targets to support this aim.
United Nations’ Sustainable development goals
The Sustainable Destination Partnership is the flagship action under City of Sydney’s Making Sydney a Sustainable Destination plan, which is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As we begin work on the Sustainable Destination Partnership’s new 2025 Strategy we will ensure that our Partners are confident their efforts are part of a global push for better sustainability outcomes.
Our results
Shared measurement of data and results is a key element of the collective impact model informing the operation of the Sustainable Destination Partnership. From the beginning we worked with our business members, and our data partners Kinesis and the NSW Government's Sustainability Advantage program, to develop an annual reporting framework. This identifies SDP's baseline resource use and organisational capability. On an annual basis we measure our progress towards our targets.