Businesses will play ‘crucial role’ in the UK’s transition to low-carbon cities

The creation of low-carbon, sustainable British cities can only be addressed through collaboration between the public sector and innovative green businesses. That was the overwhelming view of sustainable leaders from UK cities who gathered at an event hosted by the London Borough Sutton to share experiences, strategies and case-studies of best-practice approaches to delivering sustainable cities. Glasgow City Council has partnered with a number of businesses on diverse sustainability projects which provide job creation and green capital growth. The low-carbon sector is worth about 37,000 jobs and £5.5bn per year in Greater Manchester. Nottingham surpassed it’s climate change targets four years early thanks to a wide range of organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors working to reduce the city’s environmental impact. Swindon Borough Council launched the UK’s first ever council solar bond earlier this year. And Peterborough is striving to create the UK’s first circular city by 2050. What comes through clearly in each of the examples in Edie’s write up of the event is that alongside setting ambitious targets it is all about engaging a wide range of partners in the challenge. In talking about Manchester’s decision to aim to become a zero-carbon city by 2050, Jonny Sadler, Manchester Climate Change Agency’s programme director, admits that the target is ‘incredibly challenging’, and concedes he ‘doesn’t honestly know how it’s going to get there’, but he remains adamant that collaboration through public, private and academic partners will help the City achieve its bold objectives. Read the full article ‘Businesses will play ‘crucial role’ in the UK’s transition to low-carbon cities’, published on the Edie web site on 19 October 2016.