Bristol to aim for zero-carbon by 2050
Mayor Ferguson is seeking to upgrade the city’s 2050 emissions reduction target from 80 per cent to 100 per cent, adding to Bristol’s existing reduction targets of 40, 50 and 60 per cent by 2020, 2025 and 2035 respectively.
Bristol, this year’s European Green Capital, has so far reduced carbon emissions per person by 24 per cent since 2005, while the city’s Council met its own 40 per cent emissions reduction target five years early and is currently working towards a new 50 per cent goal.
Mayor Ferguson (right), who is part of the Compact of Mayors, announced the proposal during the Cities and Regions Pavilion at the UN’s climate conference in Paris. He emphasises the fact that localities have played a major role at COP21.
“In recent years whilst nations have talked, cities and regions have acted. We pledged to do all we can to pursue a future where unavoidable climate temperature increases are limited to no more than two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels,” he said.
“We made this pledge at a time when the outcome of COP was unclear, but now the world’s nations have reached their historic agreement there’s an even better chance of success. To succeed requires greater ambition, investment and dedication across all sectors.
“Bristol is once again taking a lead amongst UK cities. We are saying we shall take on board what has been agreed at COP21, we shall accelerate our ambition and work with partners at home, abroad and across any and all sectors to try and achieve our goals.”
Speaking about the City Council’s updated emissions target, Cllr Helen Holland, Leader of the Labour group on Bristol City Council, said: “This ambitious commitment will have to be matched by bold actions, but I am sure that everyone – residents, community organisations, and business – will all play their part in helping Bristol meet that challenge, joining worldwide efforts to rescue our planet.”
A draft for Bristol’s current climate and energy framework, ‘Our Resilient Future: A Framework for Climate and Energy Security for Bristol’, featuring the original 80 per cent emissions reduction target, was approved last month by Mayor Ferguson, with the framework set to be re-drafted in order to include the upgraded 100 per cent reduction.
