Montréal named “most sustainable destination” in North America!

Tourisme Montréal maintained its raking of first place in North America on the 2023 Global Destination Sustainability Index, an internationally recognized body in sustainable tourism. Over 40 new destinations were added to the ranking this year, including 19 in North America, but Montréal was the only North American city to rank among the top 40. The city was judged on nearly 70 criteria inspired by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, classified into four main categories: environmental, social, supplier engagement, and destination management.

Why, exactly, is Montréal performing so strongly? It’s largely due to the impact of Tourisme Montréal’s Sustainable Destination strategy, which outlines tangible ways that both the city itself and visitors can mitigate environmental and social damage. 

Ready to visit Montréal? Great! We can’t wait to greet you. Did you know we offer a tool to calculate the carbon footprint of your entire visit to Montréal? We include the greenhouse gas emissions from your transportation, your meals, and your accommodations in the city. With this information, you’ll have the opportunity to offset your carbon footprint by making a donation to Carbone Boréal, a research infrastructure that plants trees and researches carbon sequestration. Your donation will make you an active participant in restoring the boreal forest and fighting climate change.

Offsetting is great. But if you want to deepen your commitment to sustainability, then we suggest taking the Visitor’s Pledge. It was created to bring greater awareness to how we all have a duty to take care of our city, even if you are just passing through.

So, consider yourself not a tourist, but an “honorary local”, and Montréal your home away from home that you love as much as we do. When you take the Visitor’s Pledge, you commit to using reusable bottles, cups, and bags whenever possible, and sustainable transportation, including walking, cycling and the bus and metro. 

Montréal's well-known cultural scene includes a several sustainable hotels, restaurants, and attractions. For instance, Espace pour la vie is Canada's largest nature and science museum complex, which includes the Biodôme, the Insectarium, the Botanical Garden, the Biosphere, and the Planetarium.