On Wednesday 26 February, Bristol’s One City Environmental Sustainability Board launched the brave and ambitious One City Climate Strategy – describing a pathway for Bristol to become carbon neutral and climate resilient by 2030.

We applaud what is an ambitious timeline; the scale of this project is unrivalled elsewhere in the UK and would cast Bristol as a leader in the fight against the Climate and Ecological Emergency.

Highlights in the strategy include:

• A commitment to make Bristol carbon neutral and climate resilient by 2030, alongside improving health, education and the environment

• A goal to reduce vehicle miles across the city by 40%, and measures to replace 160,000 gas boilers with a heat pump network

• 10,000 new jobs in the construction industry, effectively doubling the current workforce

• All citizens to live and work within 10 minutes walk of a green space

• Conversion of redundant city car parks into food production.

The One City Climate Strategy is yet another example of Bristol taking the lead on the climate crisis. Bristol is not only the first city to declare a climate and ecological emergency, campaigners have also succeeded in preventing the expansion of Bristol Airport – a victory noted by Greta Thunberg, who addressed a crowd of 30,000 during the Youth Strike for Climate at College Green last Friday. The tide is turning on the climate crisis and we’re proud that Bristol is at the forefront of the debate. 

The Environmental Sustainability Board have made clear that a carbon neutral 2030 will not be achievable without:

• Buy-in from all city stakeholders, from corporate businesses to private households

• Greater legislative powers and funding from national government

• Decarbonisation of the national grid by 2030

We’re committed to supporting this strategy and bringing pressure to bear to make sure it happens. We’re going to need all crew to pull together – this is our opportunity to achieve something incredible together!

Read the full strategy here >

Read our summary here >

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