Sweden, Norway and Denmark are among the world's most sustainable travel destinations, the Global Destinations Sustainability Index (GDS) has found.

To help you travel sustainably, the GDS index is a performance improvement programme to make tourism and events more eco-friendly. Each year, the judges analyse 70 indicators to give each area a sustainability score, including air quality, emissions, renewable energies, resource and water management, and climate change commitment.

Gothenburg, Sweden's second biggest city, scooped first place with 93%. Home to world-class restaurants, diverse cultural scenes, sustainable living and beautiful nature, this city was recognised for wanting to make an impact. It has a vision of being fossil independent by 2030 and plans of wanting to run 97% of public transport on renewable energy.

Norway's Bergen took the second spot, followed by Copenhagen and Aalborg — both in Denmark. While Scandinavian countries were clear winners, the UK did make the top 10, with both Glasgow and Belfast being recognised for their green efforts.

bergen, norwaypinterest
Ryhor Bruyeu (Grigory Bruev)//Getty Images
Bergen, Norway

"GDS-Movement salutes its members' continuous commitment to measuring and managing the sustainability contributions of their tourism and events," says Guy Bigwood, Chief Changemaker and CEO, GDS-Movement.

"Every step in the journey towards a destination’s social, environmental, and economic well-being counts dramatically and all GDS-Index participants are stewards of positive change.  Given the reach of  Business Events, it's critical that this sector, specifically, further leverages the opportunity to act now, raise the bar, and invest in a thriving destination on a journey towards greater regenerative destination management, today and going forward. Working together, we all win."

Take a look at the full list below...

Top 10 sustainable travel destinations in the world

  1. Gothenburg, Sweden (93%)
  2. Bergen, Norway (88%)
  3. Copenhagen, Denmark (87%)
  4. Aalborg, Denmark (86%)
  5. Bordeaux, France (85%)
  6. Glasgow, UK (84%)
  7. Stockholm, Sweden (84%)
  8. Belfast, UK (84%)
  9. Aarhus, Denmark (84%)
  10. Oslo, Norway (83%)
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Lisa Joyner
Deputy Daily Editor, Country Living and House Beautiful

 Lisa Joyner is the Deputy Daily Editor at House Beautiful UK and Country Living UK, where she's busy writing about home and interiors, gardening, dog breeds, pets, health and wellbeing, countryside news, small space inspiration, and the hottest properties on the market. Previously, she has written for Conde Nast Traveller, House & Garden and Marie Claire magazine. Lisa studied at University For The Creative Arts, where she completed a BA in Fashion Journalism.