bristol post european green capital supplement

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2 Friday, February 5, 2016 3Friday, February 5, 2016 www. .co.ukwww. .co.uk

s we prepare to hand theGreen Capital baton toLjubljana in Slovenia, Iwould like to take this

opportunity to reflect on the pastyear.Of course I cannot provide a

review of the whole year in thisbrief introduction – it is merely afew personal reflections. I leave thepeople and projects to tell theirown stories in the pages that fol-low.Although I have been based in

Bristol for some 25 years, GreenCapital afforded me the oppor-tunity to get to know the city inways which I had never previouslymanaged. I have seen it throughthe lens of our five themes –energy, food, nature, transport andresources – and I have realisedwhat a lot I have been missing.Bristolians are an inspiringbunch!There were two activities that

particularly interested me. Firstly,the aggregation of small beha-vioural changes by individuals tocreate a large, cumulative impactand, secondly, the involvement ofbusiness in creating a low carbonfuture.One lasting effect of 2015 will be

through the changes, both largeand small, that have been made byindividual Bristolians as part ofthe ‘Do 15 in 15’ campaign. Wecounted up over 50,000 pledges butthose are just the ones we knowabout. I made my own list of 15 andhave managed to keep them all,except for my continued failure tomemorise the names of the 15 treesthat I have planted! Last year Itravelled to work by (electric) bi-cycle or bus every day bar four, andI now love cycling. There has beena 25% increase in bus passengers

during the last 18 months and Ibelieve that shift is just the tip ofthe iceberg.At the other end of the spectrum,

I had a contentious message toimpart: it is OK – in fact it isessential – that business makesmoney and creates new jobs out ofsustainability. The Venturefestshowcase in June was a case inpoint. With 1,200 visitors, the buzzwas palpable. It showed off Bris-tol’s innovation at its best andconfirmed the willingness of busi-nesses not only to participate inbut to accelerate the green agenda.One memorable exhibit was hos-ted by Airbus – a model of theworld’s first electric plane – thereal plane was developed by youngengineers right here in Bristolduring 2015. An exciting first steptowards zero carbon aviation.Lots of people have asked me

what has been my own, personalhighlight of Bristol’s Green Cap-ital year. I cannot identify onealone but I have been particularlystruck by the success of ourschools programme. Out of thatgrew Sustainable Shaun, a gamejointly developed by Bristol 2015,local school teachers and Aard-man, which is now being played in149 countries.An unofficial aim of the year was

trying to convey a serious messagein an entertaining and engagingfashion. Sustainable Shaunachieved that aim, as did TheBristol Whales and Fog Bridge –two projects made possible by ArtsCouncil England which attractedworldwide attention.At a local level, one image sticks

in my mind. It comes from ourneighbourhood arts programme. Agirl who had ventured onto theDundry Slopes for the first time

got her new Converse tracksuitmuddy. She reported (on film I ampleased to say, since it made mequite tearful!): “At first I was a bitmad… but then I realised, going upthere, you’re making new memor-ies, and you can just wash out themud, so…maybe getting that bit ofmud is worth it, for a lifetime’sworth of memories.”Bristolians set in motion many

things during 2015. Some werecompleted within the year, somewith a finite end will run onlonger, and others will continueindefinitely. We have reached theend of 2015 but not the end of theinfluence of our year spent asEuropean Green Capital. It mostcertainly doesn’t stop here!

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TUDIES show that it is crit-ical to engage children withthe environment before theyare 11 years old, if we are to

inspire a love of nature withinthem.Children in schools are the cit-

izens of the future, who will betaking custody of the planet inyears to come.So it is vital that help is in place

for teachers right now, and in thecoming months and years, to makesustainability a part of children’sschool lives.The education programme

which Bristol 2015 created has nowgone nationwide, and is one of thegreatest legacies of the year after£800,000 was earmarked for aprimary schools strategy.The schools team created an in-

spiring education programme, de-signed to give teachers the toolsthey need to bring sustainability tolife.It was in the spotlight at the UN

Climate Summit in Paris, whereBristol shared this new resourcewith decision-makers from around

the world with the aim of inspiringbest practice in environmentaleducation on a global scale.It incorporates sustainability

workshops which have reached14,300 primary pupils from 77 Bris-tol schools over the past year, en-couraging them to think about howto create a more eco-friendly cityby monitoring resources, food, en-ergy, transport and nature.Jo Taylor, the head of education

at Bristol 2015, said: “After changesto theNational Curriculum in 2014,sustainability and climate changeare no longer statutory to teach aspart of the National Curriculum inprimary schools. We wanted toshow that environmental aware-ness can be part of any child’slearning, regardless of the subjectit is taught in. The newSustainableLearning website we have set uphas a range of inspiring resources,lessons plans, videos and advice forteachers to pick up and use in theirclassroom and outdoors.“So, whether it is an English

lesson exploring green messages, aMaths lesson using recycling oreven a whole school young enter-prise project on upcycling, theseresources have been designed withboth teachers and children inmind.We’ve combined learning ob-jectives from the curriculum with

an awareness of the environmentin fun and inspirational lesson re-sources.”An advisory panel was set up in

2015, which included teachers,

heads and school co-ordinators, toadvise the team on what teachersreally needed.Jo said: “We want to reach out to

4 million children across the coun-

try, so it is a big project. Hopefullythis website will be a huge help toteachers and make environment-ally-friendly living a day-to-daypart of children’s lives.”Another flagship part of the edu-

cation mission has been the plant-ing of 36,000 trees in the city in theOne Tree Per Child initiative.There will be one tree planted for

every primary-school age child byMarch this year, and Bristol CityCouncil is working with 130primary schools to give every pupilthe opportunity to plant a tree.The new trees have been planted

in schools, woodland andhedgerows during the growing sea-son, which runs from Novemberuntil March.Nearly 20,000 trees have already

been planted and another 12,000have been ordered.By the time the programme is

finished, 12,000 free fruit trees willhave been given away to schools;12,000 woodland and hedgerowtrees will have been planted; and2,015 specimen trees will beplanted in parks and greenspaces.The Avon Wildlife Trust, the

Bristol Tree Forum, and the Forestof Avon Trust have all partneredwith Bristol City Council on theprogramme.

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INGING bins, ceramicstarlings, and treasurehuntscaptured the imagination ofthousands when Bristol 2015

reached out to all areas of the city.As away of reaching far andwide

- and engaging with people youngandold - 2015’sNeighbourhoodArtsProgrammewas born.It reached 10,000 people through

14 unique art projects across theyear.Communities found new ways to

communicate, formednewpartner-ships and discovered new ways ofworking or behaving.Through the programme, each of

the city’s 14 neighbourhood part-nershipareasweregiven funding tocreate lasting change through get-ting creative.One of them was a giant marble

run, crafted fromanoldbin, in abidto stop people fly-tipping.A large, green communal binwas

made into an interactive game sta-tionincludingamarblerunandpin-ball machine.It was designed by Mufti Games

and based on amap of Easton.Dubbed “Transforma-bin”, it

toured flytipping hotspots in Ash-ley, Easton and Lawrence Hill andwas designed to challenge people’sbehaviour.Mufti Games’ Simon Day said:

“Bristol’s communal bins havecome up time and time again in ourresearch into fly tipping andanti-socialwaste.Theyseemalmostemblematicof acyclewherebysolv-ing one problem, you cause anoth-er.”Meanwhile, in Greater Bedmin-

ster, the Ashton Vale Hub broughttogethermore than 800 people of allages for a series of indoor and out-door nature-themed activities.They included art workshops at a

weekly community cafe, a garden-ing group and street art installa-tions with the youth club.The result was a significant in-

crease in bookings for the com-

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munity café and the local youthclub, which faced possible closureearlier this year, is now thriving.Oneof themostdelicateandbeau-

tiful projects was A Bristol Mur-muration, a gathering of 1,000ceramic starlings on DurdhamDown.Created to highlight dwindling

starling numbers in the UK, eachbird was crafted by hand by peopleinHenleaze,StokeBishopandWest-bury-on-Trym.The birds could be seen by the

publicduringOctober, traditionallythe start of the season for watchingstarlingmurmurations.And a bird-hide staffed by volun-

teer twitchers provided informa-

tion on the project and loaned outbinoculars for individual bird spot-ting.Artist Zoë Cameron thought up

the idea.She said: “We had a wonderful

array of birds – some green fincheswinged theirway into the flock, andthere were some very exotic-look-ing starlings. Many people havenever used clay before and it’s beena very therapeutic process forthem.“I’m delighted that so many

people have been part of this stun-ning artwork. All of the birds werenumberedandreturnedtotheircre-ators at theproject’s end, to rest androost.”

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10 Friday, February 5, 2016www. .co.uk

NE of the biggest chal-lenges the Green Capitalteam faced was makingthe sustainable message

accessible to everyone in Bristol.There are half amillion people in

Bristol, all of whom lead busy, chal-lenging, varied lives, and theyspeak 91 languages between them.But one thing connects them:

food.Kalpna Woolf devised a project -

91 Ways To Build A Global City -that celebrates that one joy inlife which is common tous all.She said: “I

wanted to find away to speak toeverybodydur-ing theEuropeanGreen Capitalyear, to talk tothem aboutgreen issues, totalk to themabout sustainab-ility, and thewaywewanted to do that wasto use food, because foodbrings people together.”Food connects the Somali com-

munity to the Sudanese com-munity, Syrians to Eritreans,Bristolians to Brazilians.Kalpna brought together people

fromall those communities to sit ina room together, and eat and talk.The result was magnificent:

ideas were exchanged and new les-sons were learnt by all.Kalpna said: “We asked people:

what do you eat and where do youget your food from?“A lot of people who come from

different countries want to eat thatfood. We tried to talk to them aboutwhether that food can be broughthere, or brought here in a betterway. We are seeing if we can bringsomeof our growingmethods to thefoods that they want to eat, andthat’s amazing really.”Bristol is already growing herbs,

spices and beans that originate inother countries, cutting down onthe airmiles of the food we eat.And plenty of people in theSomali community prefer to go

to the market every day,rather than do aweekly shop in a su-permarket.It means theybuy fresh pro-duce, and endup with lesswaste -somethingwhichwe can alldo more of.So people from

around the worldcan teach all of us a

more sustainableway ofliving.

And the project continues. The 91Ways Peace Cafe has been set up, aplace where people of all back-grounds and ethnicities can meetand share stories while dining ondishes from a variety of cultures.Kalpna said: “We bring food and

we sit and talk, it’s a virtualspace.“It’s a great way of saying that

there’s no agenda, just come alongand hear our stories, we want tolearn from you. That’s our legacyproject.”

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11Friday, February 5, 2016 www. .co.uk

E all care about trans-port -we allwant to getto work quickly,cheaply and safely, we

all want our children to be able towalk to school, we all want moreoptions open to us when it comes togetting around.Transport is a big political and

social issue across the city, butthanks to Green Capital, plans areafoot tomake all our lives that littlebit easier, and our air a whole lotcleaner.Ian Barrett, regional director for

Sustrans, told us about his visionfor 2016 and beyond.He said: “The Strategic Grants

Fund has enabled us to do somereally interesting projects.“We’ve created Street Pockets in

10 streetswherewe have trained upcommunity leaders to work withpeople to reclaim space back fromparking for community use, andthat’s really got people thinkingand talking.”One or two car parking spaces on

each of the streets has been con-verted into attractive places to sit,socialise, or play.The change might include a

mini-park, a swing, a communitynotice board, artwork, trees andplants, bicycle parking or even abicycle pump station.Ian said: “Engagement has been

a big part of the year.“We’ve been talking to people

about the future of transportand what people want tosee, we’ve developed aplan which sets outthe vision for trans-port in the city.”Rain Gardens

have been in-stalled in South-mead to protectstreets fromflooding and im-prove the qualityof the street.In St Pauls and

Easton, there is im-provement work beingdeveloped for public spaces,a plan is in place for reducing theimpact of traffic on people’s dailylives, and cycle routes are beingimproved all the time.Ian added: “Active travel is really

beneficial to people’s health; it’sthe easiest way of building exerciseinto your life, by walking and cyc-ling around the city.“For young people, walking, cyc-

ling and scooting to school is greatfor their health and wellbeing.”As the transport conversations

continue in the comingmonths andyears, Ian is confident more of uswill be out exploring our roads andstreets, making Bristol a friendlier,healthier place to live.

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NE resource we’ve got alot of in Bristol is water.It’s free and simple to ac-cess, and most of us don’t

give it a second thought as we gothrough our lives.But protecting our waterways,

rivers and seas is vital for the fu-ture health of the planet and itsinhabitants.That’s where Natalie Fee, the

founder of City to Sea, comes in.City to Sea was set up in 2015 to

stem the tide of marine plastic pol-lution into our rivers and oceans.Natalie said: “Plastics are flow-

ing out of the Avon, down to theBristol Channel.“The project drew its inspiration

from the River Avon because I wasfrustrated by the amount of litterthat covers the river banks.“We wanted to see if there was

anything we can do in Bristol totackle marine plastic pollution,which is a global issue, at a locallevel.“Bristol being European Green

Capital for us was the ideal year totry to gain some momentum.“We received some funding to

enable us to deliver our first cam-

paign: Refill Bristol.“It was a campaign set up to

inspire Bristolians to fall back inlove with tap water.”The idea behind Refill Bristol is

that we can reduce the amount ofsingle use plastic bottles that areused, specifically bottled water.Currently in the UKwe are using

18 billion plastic bottles a year. Outof those, only a quarter get recycledand the rest go into landfill or endup in our oceans.Plastic does not biodegrade, mar-

ine animals are eating it and theythen die with bellies full of plastic.Beach cleans are run twice a year

on the banks of the River Avon, andvolunteers at the last one picked up400 plastic bottles in an hour and ahalf.With Refill Bristol, the public can

go into any shop or cafe with theblue Refill logo, and get theirbottles filled up with free tapwater.Natalie said: “We launched Refill

Bristol quite late during the GreenCapital year, but in those first fewmonths we signed up over 170 refillstations so we have got the citycentre covered in terms of where

you can fill up your bottles.“In 2016, the project is partnering

with Bristol Water, who will sup-port it in the future.

“We need people to start remem-bering to take their bottles outwiththem, and remembering they canget free tapwaterwherever they go.

It saves people money, and peoplewill be doing their bit for the en-vironment.

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“We get together with the neigh-bours to do the watering, andeverybody who walks up and downthe street can see how nice thegardens are.“It was great because the kids

learnt about wildlife, bees and in-sects.“In 2016, we will be using the car

less and buying locally, and work-ing with the neighbours to be astronger community.”

ATURE is in danger ofbeing overwhelmed inmany big cities across theglobe.

To make sure it thrives, it needscare, attention and commitmentfrom the citizens of all those urbanareas.In Bristol, a project called My

Wild City was launched with aGreen Capital strategic grant, toimprove the city spaces for wildlifeand make Bristol the first “citynature reserve”.It involved transforming the

front gardens of 30 terraced houseson a typical Bristol street into ahaven for nature and people alike.Stanley Road in Easton was se-

lected for this case study and 30houses welcomed a wildlife gardenmakeover.Matt Collis, who worked on the

project, said: “We were really try-ing to get people to think about howthe city is constructed for wildlife.“The focus was thinking about

how a city is made up - streets,churches, parks - and how we caninfluence change.“It was about connecting people

with nature.For wildlife to flourish, a space

needs food, shelter, water and abreeding ground.Amenity grasslands and lawns

have been transformed and re-planted with native wildflowers.Ponds and log piles have been leftin the spaces to encourage speciesto breed.“In anurban situation,wildlife is

completely different to what youwould find outside the city, butthere are a few things which youfind all over.“Hedgehogs are becoming

an urban-based species,and you see insects,newts, frogs, toads andbirds.“We are trying to re-

introduce that chaininto the city.”Thinking about

wildlife is the perfectfamily activity, and oneof the families who havealready taken ownershipof where they live are Wal-ter and Susana Nuñez, withtheir children Leon (6) andAlba (2).They are one of the families who

live on Stanley Road, and they saidthe My Wild Street project wasfantastic for bringing the com-munity together.Susana said: “The Avon Wildlife

Trust did a really amazing job inour very little front garden, be-cause they put plants and pots andtrees there.“They allow the wildlife to come

here. The week after the gardenswere done, the street was full ofbees so it was really beautiful.

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HEN it comes to saving energy inBristol, plenty of passionatepeople have been making a dif-ference in our homes and offices

for years.But the arrival of 2015 gave existing projects

even more momentum.Newcash boosts andnewenthusiasmmeans

that more homes are being retrofitted, andmore help is available to homeowners.One energy champion is Zoe Banks Gross, a

director at Easton Energy Group, which helpspeople to save energy – and money – in theirhomes.The social enterprise has been in existence

since2009,helpingpeople to reduceenergyusein their homes and assisting people in fuelpoverty to find grants to aid with their homeenergy costs.It got an extra funding boost last yearwith a

Green Capital grant.New projects were born with this backing,

including the CHEESE project – the ColdHomes Energy Efficiency Survey Experts.Zoe said: “It was really exciting; we used

thermal imaging software to look at homesinternally and externally. It was a way to seewhere people had problems with coldbridging and where they could save energy.“The brilliance of the camera is that you

canattach it toan iPhone, so it is reallyeasy touse.”The other project during the year was

HEAT, the Home Energy Action Team. It’s adraught-proofing service, training people tocombat draughts themselves and enablingthem to borrow the tools they need.Both of the projects are con-

tinuing into 2016.Zoe said: “Itwas amazing

to see how much mo-mentum was createdduring 2015; we had alot of volunteers in-terested in both pro-jects. CHEESE hasbeen fantastic be-cause it is visual,people can see thecoldness in thehouse.”Eastern Energy

Group focuses on ret-rofitting old, damp,draughty Victorianhomes, and there are alot of those in the city.Zoe said: “A lot of people

think if you live in an old houseyou can’t do any retrofitting.“But you candoquite a bit tomake anold

house as comfortable and energy efficientas a brand new one.“A lot of old homes are quite damp and

draughty, and they would benefit fromexternal wall insulation, under-floor in-sulation, double-glazed windows or anew combi boiler.”Zoe said: “If nothing else, 2015 has

raised awareness and excitement inBristol. People have been really proudthat 2015 was the year of Green Cap-ital, and it has made them think a bitmore about how they live their lifeand what we can do to make thingsbetter.”

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HIS Valentine’s Day, ro-mantics are being encour-aged to not only love theirpartner, but to love the

planet as well.The Chains of Love project is

hoping for a fair trade Valentine’s,where gifts exchanged in Bristolare not only thoughtful, but eth-ically sound as well.It’s asking shoppers to think

seriously about where our giftscome from when we are buying

chocolate, flowers and clothes thisyear. The aim is to show how alittle thought at point of purchasecan make a huge difference topeople thousands of miles away.Science centre @Bristol will be

showing four films on February14, looking at the real story behindthe romantic products we buy.Love The Future, an events

company specialising in puttingon year-round sustainable enter-tainment, is putting on thenight.Darren Hall, executive director

at Love The Future, said: “We livein amazing times. At the push of abutton, products can be deliveredto your door from the other side of

the world, at increasingly lowerprices.“Yet the complexity of the pro-

cess from production to deliverygoes almost unnoticed, and asconsumers, we rarely take thetime to ask how these items weremade.“If we look for it, there is plenty

of information about corporationpractice and there are lots ofopportunities to shop ethically.“But many of us don’t. Price

rather than planet conscious, weoften turn a blind eye to what liesbehind the advertising hype.”Love The Future is also the

company behind BIG Green Week,an annual programme of events

promoting sustainability. Lastyear, thousands of people enjoyedperformances, lectures and artprojects dotted around Bristol, allof them encouraging us to takecare of our planet.This year is no different, and the

international festival of better liv-ing and big ideas will take placebetween June 11 and 19.The theme this year is tied to

Bristol’s recent promise to becomea carbon-neutral city by 2050.It would mean Bristol’s carbon

footprint would be zero, and to getthere we will have to balance theamount of CO2 released into theatmosphere with projects that off-set emissions, such as planting

trees, which absorb CO2. Darrensaid: “We want to bring in projectsthis year which help to explain theidea of carbon-neutrality topeople.“Lots of people don’t quite know

what it means, so we want to talkmore about it this year.“We would love to hear from

people who would like to be part ofthe week, and planning is verymuch under way for this year’sprogramme of events.”Love The Future is also plan-

ning on holding a Smart LivingShow later in the year, offeringpeople an opportunity to try outgreen products and services.

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N 2007, a group of committedorganisations got together andboldly stated an intention, tohelp Bristol become a "green

capital", by setting up the BristolGreen Capital Partnership. It wasnever meant to be just a label, but asignificant intervention in itself. Itasked the question, what is it allFOR? What are we aiming at? Inshort ithelped layoutapathwaytoabetter future.As the Partnership nears its 10

year anniversary, we can look backproudly at what we have achievedtogether,andlookforwardwithcon-

fidenceaboutall that is tocome.ThePartnership has grown from 12member organisations to over 850,the largest of its kind in the world,all pledging to play their part in im-proving Bristol for the long-term. Ithas brought together many differ-ent groups to try to tackle some ofthe really big challenges we face –such as transport, air quality, ourfuture energy supplies and the waywe deal with waste – and has sup-ported ideas to be realised and pro-jects to flourish across the city.2015 saw thousands of events and

opportunities in every neighbour-

hood, as well as investments beingmade to help some big dreams be-comeareality in thecomingdecade.The Partnership will continue tosupport collaboration among ourmembers, so that even more can beachieved in the future.The Partnership is in this for the

long game; the work didn’t start in2015andcertainlydoesn’t stophere!It is free and open to new membersfrom organisations and businesseslarge and small, who are up for thischallenge and want to play theirpart. I’mexcitedabouta futureBris-tol where streets and neighbour-

hoods are designed for people.Where businesses that provideproducts and services that do goodfor people and planet thrive. Whererenewable energy programmes arerolled out in areas of real fuelpoverty to combat both at once.Where local food production and re-sponsible public services are de-signed to sustainhealthy lives, goodjobs and a flourishing natural en-vironment.I'm excited about living in a city

like that. About my children grow-ing up in a city like that. Aboutgrowing old in a city like that. As I

UNDREDS of peoplehave benefited fromvaluable advice on howto make their business

more sustainable, thanks to GoGreen.The initiative was formed from

a partnership between BusinessWest and Low Carbon SouthWest, and it provides the tools forbusinesses to improve and showtheir own green credentials.Last year it proved to be a huge

success: more than 1,550 peopleattended Go Green events, and278 businesses have put togetheraction plans.And because so many people

have been willing to get involved,a huge network of small, mediumand large business has grownacross Bristol, with all of themlearning from each other.AmyNicholass, GoGreenMan-

ager, said even though Bristol’syear as European Green Capitalhas ended, it was business asusual in the Go Green office.She said: “All the tools we

provide for businesses are stillthere, people can still create theiraction plans and come along toour events.“We are actually looking to ex-

pand our network across theSouth West and branch out fur-ther afield.“Weare taking theburdenoff of

a company which wants to be-come more green, by doing theresearch for them. We can advisethem on the best way to go aboutit.”A good example of the great

workGoGreen is doing isKnowleWest Media Centre.By working with Go Green and

Travel West, Knowle West Media

Centre have been inspired to im-proveon their already impressivetrack record by providing theirstaff with a much greener altern-ative for travel, the electric bike.This move has to date helped

staff cut down on car journeysmade during the day and hasshowed them that they can planbig in the future.And businesses are making

great green moves of their ownevery day.Bristol favourite, the Thali cafe

group, has teamed up withFRANK Water, which plans andimplements safe water supply,proper sanitation and good hy-giene practices in India.Thali Water is a collaboration

betweenThali andFRANKWater,and it reduces waste, encouragesre-use and recycling and raisesfunds for lifesaving clean water.

One litre of Thali Water is servedto every table in a refillable glassbottle with a voluntary 50p pricetag.If customers opt in, 100 per cent

isdonated toFRANKWater.Thaliaims to raise £12,000 over threeyears, which would be enough tosecure safe water and sanitationfor 500 households in Agra.GoGreen is showcasing dozens

of other businesses like these

across Bristol. Later this month,Go Green will be celebrating itsfirst birthday with an awards ce-remony.Amy said: “We are rewarding

the organisations who haveachieved the most across each ofthe five themes of Go Green - en-ergy and efficiency; travel andtransport; planning and resili-ence; sustainable sourcing; andhappy and healthy.“We are very excited and the

awards should provide us witheven more momentum going for-ward.”Overall there will be 13 Go

Green 2016 Awards, and winnerswill be announced at a celebrat-ory event at The Bristol Hotel onthe evening of February 18.For more information and to

get involved, visit www.gogreen-business.co.uk.

step downafter twoyears asChair, Ilook forward to seeing what we cando collectively as citizens of thiscity, to realise that bold vision laiddown for us years ago.

Organisations can sign up to becomea member of the Partnership by vis-iting www.bristolgreencapital.organd making the Pledge.

AnyonecansubscribetotheBristolGreen Capital Partnership e-news-letter at www.bristolgreencapital.org and follow @bgreencapital tostay up to date with events, oppor-tunities and news.

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n finally achieving our long-standing goal to becomeEurope’s 6th Green Capital,my ambition as mayor has

been to motivate citizens andcommunities across the city towork together to make Bristol abetter place, as well as raisingour international status to be-come one of the world’s leadingsustainable cities.The results are heartening. At

least 50,000 of us are alreadymaking our own small changesand considering our environ-mental impact. Whether it’s re-ducing waste, buying locally, orcommuting to work or school bybike or foot, every action countsin making Bristol a healthier,happier place.Bristol’s children are playing

a vital role too, thanks to 30,000local children taking homethese sustainable messageslearnt through our inspiringaward-winning schools pro-gramme, which is now availableas a UK-wide teaching resource.

With the addition of my ‘OneTree Per Child’ initiative, I amproud that we are inspiring bestpractice in environmental edu-cation and guiding our ‘citizensof the future’.However we must ensure that

the momentum continues. Bythe end of 2017 we will have anefficient bus rapid transit sys-tem followed by the transform-ation of our suburban railinfrastructure by 2020. With ashift towards more active trans-port and low emission vehicles,we’re on track to transformingtravel in and around Bristol,boosting the economy and cre-ating a healthier, safer envir-onment for everyone.Following the successful Paris

COP decision, I and the fourparty group leaders have set themost ambitious carbon and en-ergy plan of all UK core cities bycommitting to the target of car-bon neutrality by 2050.Bristol is already making

strides in renewable energy

with solar panels on councilbuildings and a pilot com-munity investment programmepromoting sustainable initiat-ives. We have reduced energyuse across Bristol by nearly 20%since 2005 and plan to go furtherusing innovation and techno-logy to run a smarter, moreefficient city.Our carbon targets present an

enormous challenge but creat-ing liveable cities requires boldactions. It’s the same strongcivil society foundation of team-work, resilience, persistenceand support, which helped usbecome Green Capital and willagain play a crucial role inmeeting our future climate am-bitions.Whenwe co-hosted the world’s

cities and regions pavilion at theParis COP21 we demonstratedBristol is leading the way onsustainability by bringing to-gether all sectors of the com-munity – residents, businesses,schools, groups and world lead-

ers. They hold the key to un-locking our future potential.The growth in our interna-

tional standing should not beunderestimated. We welcomedover 70 international delega-tions during 2015, some 7 timesthe number in 2014, helping toincrease visitor spend and in-ternational profile.We are a key member of theCompact ofMayors, launchedby UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon and Michael R.Bloomberg. This is the world’slargest global collective effortto date by cities tackling climatechange and is one of many in-ternational networks we havebeen invited to join, helping toraise our ambitions and attract-ing greater investment.Bristol has become an inspir-

ing role model for cities acrossEurope and beyond. As yourfirst elected mayor I am ex-tremely proud of how far wehave come. Bristol citizens areon this green journey for good.

etroBus was a keypart of Bristol’s ap-plication for theEuropean Green Cap-

ital award. Construction on the£200 million sustainable trans-port network began in 2015. Ser-vices start in 2017.MetroBus will provide passen-

gers with quicker journeys overlonger distances. Services will befaster and more frequent thanother buses with less time spentat stops, smart ticketing and ded-icated lanes separate fromtraffic.

Encouraging healthy lifestylesOne main aim of MetroBus is toreduce congestionandencouragesustainable travel. MetroBusvehicleswill be low-emission anduse at least 25 per cent less fuelthan a standard bus.Newwalking and cycling paths

will be provided across the 50kmMetroBus network. The SouthBristol Link which forms part ofthe network will have new pathsalong its 4.5km length.

Supporting social inclusionMetroBus will improve access tojob opportunities - this is criticalfor low income or less skilledworkers, who are less likely tohave a car. These people usuallyqualify for a narrower range ofjobs which are often scatteredacross a large area.MetroBuswill provide high fre-

quency direct services from res-identialareastokeyemployment,education and leisure destina-tions. Services will connect partsof Bristol currently poorly servedby public transport, making iteasier for people in these areas toaccess education and job oppor-tunities which were previouslydifficult to travel to.

Supporting sustainable growthProviding high quality publictransport attracts investment. Arecent US study found strongevidence that rapid transitschemes like MetroBus have apositive impact on economicgrowth by generating develop-ment, attracting higher-wage

jobs and affordable housing.

Improving the city centreMetroBus is improving Bristolcity centre which is being recon-

figured to reduce congestion, im-prove air quality and make it amore pleasant environment.Work is already under way on anew link between Baldwin Street

and St Augustine’s Parade whichwill improve traffic flows acrossthe centre.More information:www.travel-

west.info/metrobus.

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Let’s all keep onmaking small changesfor a better Bristol

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