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Glasgow has set its sights on becoming one of the world’s most sustainable places to live, visit and do business – and the city has the EarthCheck Bronze Benchmarked Destination status to prove it.
Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow is renowned as one of the world’s cultural hubs. But even though it might be best known internationally for its dynamic music and arts scene, Glasgow is also a leader in life sciences, engineering, science and technology research, and is taking steps to become one of Europe’s leading sustainable tourism destinations.
Fittingly enough, the name Glasgow is derived from the Gaelic word ‘Glaschu’, which can be translated as ‘dear green place’. In 2019, the city declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency, and developed a climate action plan that set a target for Glasgow to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.
The city’s People Make Glasgow Greener campaign involves residents in the push to tackle environmental issues by appealing to their sense of civic pride and social responsibility, and comes as the city has invested millions into frontline environmental services and improving its many parks and green spaces.
“Glasgow has great aspirations,” says Aileen Crawford, the Head of Tourism and Conventions at Glasgow Convention Bureau, “and we are looking to encourage visitors, delegates and conference organisers to come to our destination in the full confidence that they can be as sustainable here as they can be at home.”
In September 2021, Glasgow partnered with international sustainability leader EarthCheck to assist the city in benchmarking its environmental and social performance.
EarthCheck’s Sustainable Destinations Program is a global network of destinations that aim to achieve world-leading sustainability outcomes, supported by EarthCheck’s benchmarking, certification and performance improvement system.
EarthCheck’s data-entry measurement and benchmarking tools help participating communities to monitor their environmental, economic and social impact, and track their progress against their own targets and the performance of other destinations around the world.
“EarthCheck’s benchmarking tools allow all of the partners involved in Glasgow’s sustainability programs to work together,” Aileen says, “to collate and enter the data that enables us to measure our carbon footprint as a city. It’s very easy to use, and EarthCheck tells you the key criteria that are being measured.
“We input information about our energy usage, our waste, certain social and economic indicators; even information about what the city is doing with bicycle paths, green spaces and biodiversity – it’s a very in-depth tool. It gives us an understanding of where we are, how we’re tracking against our own KPIs, and how we’re performing compared to other global destinations.”
Participants in EarthCheck’s Sustainable Destinations Program are supported in their use of the data-entry platform by dedicated relationship managers, and receive training and toolkits to help them accurately measure their performance and take positive action to improve it.
“The team at EarthCheck have absolutely helped us along the way,” Aileen says. “Our relationship manager guided us through the benchmarking process – they showed us how to use the online tools and what we needed to measure, and opened our eyes to all of the different ways we could collect valuable data.”
EarthCheck Founder and CEO Stewart Moore says the annual benchmarking reports that participants in the Sustainable Destinations Program receive are essential to sustainable destination management.
“The program helps you to understand where there might be opportunities to improve your performance, and where there might be risks,” he says. “To understand the health of your destination, you need good, accurate data about your water, your waste, your energy, and your social, environmental and economic outcomes, and that data needs to be maintained consistently so you can benchmark your progress.
“Benchmarking provides an excellent starting point for Glasgow to continue on its sustainability journey. It’s about understanding how healthy a destination is, how it compares to and what it can learn from other destinations, and how it can improve over time.”
Aileen agrees that these benchmarks are critical to her city’s sustainability strategy.
“I think for any city on a sustainability journey, it’s about understanding where you are now and where you need to get to,” she says. “The benefit of working with EarthCheck is that they’re all about data and measurement, and it’s fundamentally important for Glasgow to understand where we’re starting from and then use that data to incrementally improve.”
In November 2021, the eyes of the world were on Glasgow as it played host to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).
As the conference unfolded, Glasgow became the first UK city to achieve EarthCheck Benchmarked destination status, confirming the city’s commitment to sustainability.
As part of its certification program, EarthCheck conducts independent, third-party performance audits to verify participating destinations’ sustainability credentials.
“Because it’s independently verified, we can use Glasgow’s EarthCheck accreditation to tell our visitors, our event attendees and our conference delegates about the great work that we’re doing as a city,” Aileen says.
“Having that third-party accreditation gives us the authenticity and the credibility we need to tell the city’s sustainability story, and provides confidence and reassurance to visitors, operators and the local destination that we’re on the right track.”
“Having that third-party accreditation gives us the authenticity and the credibility we need to tell the city’s sustainability story, and provides confidence and reassurance to visitors, operators and the local destination that we’re on the right track.”
Having achieved Benchmarked destination status, EarthCheck’s Stewart Moore says the next step for Glasgow is to work towards achieving EarthCheck Certified status.
“Sustainability is a continuous process,” he says. “Once you start working towards it, you need to maintain that commitment, and you have to collect, review and validate your data every year. But it isn’t all hard work – it’s about celebration, too.
“It’s about being able to recognise staff and the destination for what they’re doing, and having the data to show them that it’s worth it. And it’s about being able to share your performance with your peers.”
Ultimately, Aileen says the EarthCheck Destination Standard is playing a key role in helping to position Glasgow as an international destination for business, investment and tourism.
“The EarthCheck Destination Standard is a globally recognised program that’s helping us to measure the success of our initiatives and celebrate our achievements,” she says.
“As a city, and as a tourism and events destination, we’re all looking towards the future of a sustainable Glasgow – a Glasgow that really is our dear green place.”
There are more than 476 million Indigenous Peoples, found in all regions of the world, from the Arctic to the tropical forests. They make up more than 6 per cent of our global population.
In the spirit of reconciliation, EarthCheck acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout the world and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Indigenous Peoples today.
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We recognise and support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration is a positive document that maps out a path for Indigenous Peoples to be free from discrimination and secure in their identities and life choices.
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