Ed Miliband talks decarbonisation on visit to Bristol

Ed Miliband was unequivocal in his praise of Marvin Rees on a visit to Bristol where he witnessed efforts to decarbonise city energy systems.

“Brilliant leadership and Excel spreadsheets, that’s what you get with Marvin,” said the shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero.

He was referring to a comment from Bristol’s mayor about the need for finance, long-term planning and spreadsheets to overcome challenges in decarbonising city systems.

It was well-timed praise with the referendum on whether or not to keep the role of mayor exactly one month away and Miliband went on to join Labour colleagues canvassing on the issue.

The former Labour leader followed in the footsteps of London mayor Sadiq Khan with a tour of the new water source heat pump in Castle Park before heading back to City Hall where he stood beside Rees to praise the work being carried out in Bristol.

It comes a week after Bristol City Council announced it is partnering with US firm Ameresco Ltd to deliver the City Leap programme, which is aimed at delivering low carbon energy infrastructure. This will include investment in solar panels, heat networks, heat pumps and energy efficiency measures to help the city meet its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

Speaking to journalists just outside City Hall on Tuesday, Miliband welcomed the city’s new energy centre in Castle Park but said if Labour was in government, it would be partnering with the council on such projects.

“It’s been great to come to Bristol and see the amazing things that are being done here,” said the shadow secretary of state.

“In particular, the really innovative project using water from the river as a water source heat pump for distributing network.”

He continued: “You doing this is a great innovation but I feel that if Labour was in government, we’d be coming to you and saying partner with us because we want to invest, we want a part of the action, we want to make this transition to net zero possible.”

Speaking about the water source heat pump and City Leap project, Rees added: “It’s one of those interventions that can happen in cities and become real in the lives of people very quickly. Using this new technology to decarbonise the heat, the energy that people are requiring to meet their needs.”

The mayor continued: “You have the 11 Core Cities across the UK, plus London, there is an opportunity for government to enter into a very productive, cooperative relationship with those cities to decarbonise those underlying city systems and it hasn’t happened.

“The technology is there to decarbonise the way we live is there, to solve 80 per cent of the problems. The big block is around finance and long-term planning – it’s Excel sheets and accountants and that doesn’t sound glamourise but that is what would unlock the challenge across our cities.

“If we can decarbonise UK cities, we decarbonise the lifestyles of millions of people in a very short space of time.”

Main photo: Betty Woolerton

Read more: Council announces US partner to decarbonise city’s energy system

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