Decarbonising could bring in £9bn investment

SENIOR figures in Bristol believe decarbonising Bristol’s economy could open up more than £9 billion of investment in the next decade.

The city’s Mayor Marvin Rees and James Durie, executive director of Business West, highlighted the opportunity in the run-up to Cop26 next month.

It comes ahead of the regional Cop26 Green Zone event in Bristol on Thursday, November 4.

The Business of Net Zero takes place at We The Curious and brings together a number of the city’s leading business institutions.

Mr Durie said: “We believe there is something like a £9.2 billion total business opportunity created by climate change for our companies. It presents us with one of the biggest opportunities since the coming of the railways.

“Everything we do in business is going to be different, and over the next 10 to 20 years, we are going to revolutionise the way our economy works through climate change.

“I think that Net Zero is a win, win, win situation for all our businesses large and small but that we must all help locally based companies and employers of all types and sizes to move towards and achieve it.”

Mr Rees will travel straight from Cop26 in Glasgow to address local businesses at We The Curious on November 4.

He said: “We’d like business to come to the regional Green Zone event and tell us what they are doing to get to Net Zero.

“Bristol’s climate strategy established a framework for how the city will become carbon neutral by 2030, based around ten themes, including the role businesses must play in achieving the city’s goals.

“One of the themes I will be talking about at Cop26 in Glasgow will be how to mobilise public and private finance flows at scale.”

Companies can attend The Business of Net Zero, regional Cop26 Green Zone event, which is free of charge, on November 4 from 12pm to 5pm, either face to face at We The Curious or virtually online.

To attend, business must register https://brightelm.eventsair.com/ the-business-of-net-zero/registration