Bristol city bids to become UK's green capital

Bristol City Council's cabinet have approved the city’s bid to become the UK's 'Green Capital'. Organisations across Bristol will pledge action as the city launches it's bid to be recognised as the leading 'green' city in the country..

Council Leader and Chair of the Bristol Partnership, Barbara Janke said: ‘Climate change is not just a global issue. Potential changes in sea levels and temperature make this a local concern too.  Therefore, this event is more than just rhetoric. It is about facilitating and encouraging action.  The Pledge will build upon Bristol's reputation as a city that is already making a significant contribution towards a more sustainable future for all.’

The event is organised by the Bristol Partnership and sponsored by the Environment Agency and Bristol City Council.

The Pledge has committed organisations to developing an action plan, report their progress publicly and work with others to make a real difference.  This may be achieved by organisations through a variety of means including how they:

• Do business
• Travel around the city
• Build and renovate homes and buildings
• Source food

A number of initiatives being pursued by the city council and its partners are already delivering environmental benefits and underline the city's commitments to the environment.  These include:

• proposals for wind turbines to power council buildings and facilities.  Subject to public consultation, the council hopes to site two large free-standing turbines at Avonmouth to harness enough wind to generate 20-30% of the council’s electricity needs. Small roof mounted turbines are also planned for four council buildings.
• the installation of solar panels on council buildings, with the first now in place at the Easton Customer Service Point. Combined with other energy saving devices this first project will help save 44 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
• the council's exemplary communication strategy - the Display Campaign which encourages staff and the public to reduce their energy use. Latest calculations show that the energy usage in The Council House on College Green for 2005/06 has improved by one category, going up from 'D' to 'C'.  This is equivalent to saving the annual consumption of nearly 35 family homes over one year.
• 34,000 street lighting lanterns, powered by 100% renewable energy to achieve a 15% reduction in its CO2 emissions by Spring 2008 - three years earlier than originally targeted.
• the new waste collection services which now mean that the city regularly recycles up to 40% of it's waste thanks to the collection of organic waste, putting it ahead of other major cities.
• energy efficiency measures which are to be incorporated into new school buildings at Monks Park, Fairfield, Henbury and Bedminster Down.
• one of the best track records in the UK - for encouraging the use of so-called 'brownfield' sites.

Bristol City Council is one of 24 organisations to have signed up to this pledge since the day of the launch, and last night put their action plan to Cabinet.

The council has already made progress in many areas of the green capital agenda - the new waste collection services, the freight consolidation scheme, and the biomass boiler at Blaise are all good examples.

The council's Green Capital Action Plan will build on these improvements.

Highlighted under a range of themes including Balanced and Sustainable Communities, Green Commerce, Better Homes and Buildings, Sustainable Transport, Sustainable Waste Management and Improved Environmental Quality, the Action Plan sets out the delivery of specific projects.

As well as publicised initiatives such as the proposed wind turbines at Avonmouth, and the implementation of the Greater Bristol Bus Network, projects also proposed in the Action Plan include:

Developing 30 Eco-schools in the next two years, an initiative in which pupils lead the way in reducing the environmental impact of the whole school on the community Trialing new energy efficient streetlights, which builds upon the council's achievement in procuring 100 per cent renewable electricity for all streetlights in the city Exploring the benefits of recovering energy from waste to provide heat and electricity in a 2-year demonstration project in partnership with Defra and Compact Power.

The projects outlined in the Green Capital Action Plan will help the council reach its target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from council activities by 3 per cent per annum.