Bristol has proved it is the UK’s lead city for the environmental sector and is now firmly on the European map as a centre for green business.
That was the message this morning from Bristol Green Capital Partnership chair Professor Martin Bigg following last night’s European Green Capital 2014 decision in which Bristol was beaten into second place by Danish capital Copenhagen.
Frankfurt, Germany’s financial powerhouse, was the third city taking part to gain the prestigious title.
Speaking to Bristol Business News as he and Bristol City Council leader Simon Cook prepared to fly back from the Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the current holder of the title and hosts for last night’s ceremony, Prof Bigg said: “Bristol is a winner today. We are the only UK city to reach the final three and can be enormously proud of what we have achieved.
“We have had huge support, particularly from Bristol’s business community and we have shown we are clearly the place to be for the environmental business sector in the UK. Now we can build on that. We are now on the European map.
“We are very proud to have been runner up to Copenhagen, a city that benefits from being a capital and has significant investment over the years making it more sustainable. To have reached the final against cities as important as Copenhagen and Frankfurt shows how far Bristol has come in the past few years.
“We will now build on that and demonstrate that, for environmental services, we are the lead UK city. We are delighted that the business community has been behind us all the way.”
The Bristol Green Capital Partnership received support from 3,500-plus firms, organisations, schools and individuals with nearly a third of these pledges from businesses in and around the city. Bristol Business News was among the first organisations to pledge its support for Bristol’s bid.
The decision was announced at just before 9pm last night. Immediately following the announcement this evening Cllr Cook said: “To get so far in this competition has been a remarkable achievement for Bristol, particularly when we were up against such strong competitors. It is testament to the huge amount of progress made on the green agenda, the vision we have for the city in years to come and the great working relationship in Bristol between the public and private sector, community groups and academia.
“We are the only UK city to have ever reached the finals in this competition, and we have done so for the second time. This sends a clear message that we are a green city that is inspiring change across Europe.
“It provides us with a platform to market the city as a place to do green business and a great place for international tourists to visit.
“As a signal of our intent to press ahead, I can confirm today that the council will support Bristol’s Big Green Week in 2013 with the ambitions to turn the festival into a world-class event for the city.”
