Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees has warned cities and businesses may not gain required support to access finance announced at COP26 to help transition to net zero.
Mr Rees told business leaders, trade groups and local authorities from across the West of England at a regional COP26 event there was a “real danger” that huge sums of money for decarbonisation would be announced at the UN climate change summit, but cities would be left in "exactly the same place they are now" without the capacity, expertise, scale or resources to access it.
Travelling straight from Glasgow to Bristol science museum We The Curious, Mr Rees updated business figures in the city region on discussions he’d had at the conference with financial institutions, investors and government representatives.
Businesses and organisations based in the city were invited to sign up the Bristol One City Climate Change Ask initiative, and commit to developing a plan to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.
Participating firms agree to create a strategy to reduce emissions within six months of making the pledge and then begin delivering on it within a year.
Colin Skellett, the chief executive of utilities firm Wessex Water and the YTL 海角视频 Group, which includes the developer behind the planned Bristol Arena, was among those to set out the business case for net zero at the event.
Panels featuring representatives of firms in the region taking action to reduce their emissions, offered advice on the support that it is available to help transition to greener operations.
Mr Rees told BusinessLive at the event that he would like to see every organisation in Bristol sign up to meet the net zero target by 2030.
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Mr Rees said: “Bristol is a collective act. We’ve talked about city government to city governance. City government focuses on Bristol City Council. But we are just one organisation in Bristol.
“If we want to decarbonise and have a good impact, it has to be us, the health service, big users of energy, the police service, private businesses, voluntary community sector, we all generate and create what Bristol is.
“That’s why we’ve put the appeal out. It's important that we get the offer first. We want to make an offer first and that’s to be a support, to help businesses get it done, and then the ask is they go and get it done. They have that plan in place and start delivering that plan to be at net zero by 2030.
“If we all do that collectively, start going in the same direction, it would be phenomenal for the city and for the contribution we make to the 海角视频 and the world.”
Mr Rees and other leaders of major 海角视频 cities have formed the 海角视频 Cities Climate Investment Commission to quantify and promote investment in decarbonisation.
The group has calculated cities need about £200bn to decarbonise transport and buildings, enabling residents and businesses to be net-zero, of which Bristol requires £9bn of investment.
Mr Rees said that an opportunity had been missed to form a detailed investment plan ahead of the arrival of world leaders in Scotland.
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He said: “I think there is a weakness built into COP already, in that the work to identify the amount of investment actually needed and the work to connect city leaders to that investment was not done before we got there.
“We could have got to COP and made announcements on how much finance was needed, where it's going to come from and where it's going to go.
“We could have had exemplars in place, 10 projects on every continent in different types of cities that show a pathway to decarbonisation with billions of pounds going on those journeys.
“We could have done that and we haven't. So that’s a missed opportunity. But we are where we are. We haven't done it, and hopefully there is a realisation of the importance of city leadership and getting that finance in place now, and there will be a ferocious commitment off the back of COP to making that real.”
Mr Rees said he and other 海角视频 city leaders had spoken to a Treasury minister during an event at the Glasgow summit about the possibility of talks on a detailed decarbonisation plan, and had been met with a “warm response.”
He reiterated that while finance would be made available to encourage decarbonisation, more help was needed for cities and local authorities to access it.
Mr Rees said: “If what comes out of COP is we say £1.2trn here, and a £50m pot there, you’ve still haven't necessary made it possible for the places to access that money. They haven't made it easier, they’ve just said there’s more money out there, and that’s the challenge.
“A problem well-defined is a problem half-solved. Sometimes we solve the problem that people don’t actually have, we solve the problem we think they have.
“What city leaders are saying is we need support to access the money, so that we can deliver on our ambitious plans. And if we are supported to get access to that, we will just crack on with it. But at the moment that’s the relationship that needs to be rescued.”
A Government spokesperson said: "Councils have an integral part to play in delivering net zero, and we will continue to work very closely with local partners to meet our climate change commitments.
"Significant funding is already available to councils for them to take local action, including £1.2bn in dedicated funds, alongside clear expectations on how central and local government interact in the delivery of net zero."
A COP26 spokesperson said: "We are working to encourage the innovation and commitment of everyone - people, business, countries, cities and regions - as we move the global economy to net zero emissions.
"The COP Presidency established a 海角视频 Mayors and Regions Advisory Council to engage with Mayors and local leaders from across the 海角视频 in their role as local leaders, and to work with them to engage communities in the lead-up to COP.
"We will also host a dedicated Cities, Regions and the Built Environment day at COP26 on Thursday November 11. This will bring together national governments, cities, regions and the private sector to build deep collaboration for climate action at a local and urban level."
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