Bristol’s City Leap to Carbon Neutrality: An Update
4th November 2019
To kick off The Future Economy Network’s unofficial Green Great Britain Week, Smith and Williamson welcomed us in their central Bristol offices to give an update on Bristol’s Leap to Carbon Neutrality. The event took place in the evening on 4th November as a follow up event from 6 months ago. Bristol City Council’s City Leap kindly sponsored the event.
First up, we welcomed James Sterling to give us an update on Bristol City Council’s City Leap initiative. James gave an overview of City Leap and what the council has achieved thus far e.g. setting up their own energy company, investing £6m in low carbon heat networks. He then went on to discuss their ground-breaking partnership opportunity which is open until 18th November 2019.
Next, we welcomed Philip Bazin, Head of the Environment team from Triodos Bank. Philip gave an overview of Triodos’ remit and the bank’s role in encouraging other larger financial institutions to play their part with regards to the climate emergency. He discussed the City Leap initiative, the UNEP Principles for Responsible Banking and also Triodos’ crowdfunding platform.
Next up was Bristol City Council’s Sustainable City and Climate Change Manager, Alex Minshull, who discussed the importance of the local authority leading by example. BCC now have consultants on board to get a baseline of the city’s scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions and they are in the process of procuring support to quantify Bristol’s scope 3 emissions. He explained that it is important to have an evidence base so as to attract more investment and achieve against their carbon neutrality targets. Alex updated attendees on the One City Approach including the recent establishment of the Environmental Sustainability Board and the Advisory Committee on Climate Change.
Prof. Jim Longhurst, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Environment and Sustainability at The University of the West of England then elaborated on the role of Bristol’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change, for which Jim is co-chair and stressed the importance of the committee being independent from the local authority. He advised that national carbon reductions are nearly all due to the decarbonisation of our electricity and that these statistics do not take into account our consumption. Jim illustrated per capita carbon footprints and commended the local authority on reviewing scope 3 emissions and not just scopes 1 and 2.
Finally, we welcomed Tom Buckland, Principle Consultant from Ricardo Energy and Environment. Tom focused in on transport emissions and in particular the broader packages of support that need to be considered for alternatives to personal vehicle use. He discussed mobility as a service, the Committee on Climate Change’s guidance for 100% zero emissions by 2025 and incentives for modal shifts. Tom finished by discussing the work Ricardo have been commissioned to complete for BCC on the level of change that is likely to be required to achieve carbon neutrality.
The seminars finished off with some energetic questions from the audience, bringing together a productive and diverse range of carbon-related topics to discuss Bristol moving forward. The event concluded with some valuable networking and finishing up the wonderful refreshments.
The Future Economy Network would like to offer sincere thanks to the speakers, our sponsors City Leap, and to Smith and Williamson for their support. Also, a huge thank you to all attendees – we hope you found it an interesting and insightful event.
If anyone is interested in sponsorship opportunities at the Festival of Sustainable Business 2020, please email us at festival@thefutureeconomygroup.co.uk
The Future Economy Network look forward to seeing you at another event soon! Details of upcoming events can be found here!