Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees to attend COP27 climate conference

Mr Rees said Bristol and other cities cannot rely on government funding and need to seek investment themselves

Bristol's mayor will travel to Egypt for a climate conference where he will try to raise cash from investors.

Marvin Rees said he would be representing cities all over the world to secure funds for climate projects while attending COP27.

Mr Rees was criticised earlier this year for flying nine hours to attend the TED 2022 conference in Canada.

A spokesperson for the mayor said in order for Mr Rees to "make big deals...you need to be in the room".

"Marvin Rees is proud to have secured an initial £424m from international investors for City Leap clean energy projects, creating 1,000 new jobs and cutting 140,000 tonnes of emissions over the next five years," he added.

"The fight against climate change will be won or lost in cities, so Bristol simply can't afford not to be at COP27 banging the drum for our city and our planet."

• The big issues facing Egypt's COP27 climate summit

• Sunak is now going to COP27 climate summit

• Is the UK on track to meet its climate targets?

Each year the United Nations hosts the global climate summit, called the Conference of Parties (COP), to get countries around the world to work together on tackling climate change.

Governments will come together in Sharm El Sheikh to discuss action on climate

Last year, COP26 was held in Glasgow, and this year the summit will be in Sharm El Sheikh.

Mr Rees said on Tuesday the conference was increasingly about finding investors to help pay for climate projects, like district heat networks or underground metro systems, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. 

"For the world's cities at the moment, particularly off the back of COP26, COP is the place where cities are going to connect with the finance they need to go on that journey of decarbonisation.

"There is no decarbonisation without investment, in retrofitting homes, putting in new heat systems, putting in heat networks, investing in mass transit systems.

"It's not all in the public purse, it's in private finance as well."

The prime minister reversed an earlier decision not to go to the COP27 climate summit in Egypt and will now attend

This year's COP27 begins on Sunday and will also be attended by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.

It will see world leaders attempt to agree global policies on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

But according to Mr Rees, Bristol and other cities cannot rely on government funding to pay for the amount of public works needed to cut carbon emissions to net zero.

They are attempting to raise investment for carbon-cutting projects through a newly-formed group called the Cities Commission for Climate Investment, or 3Ci for short.

Mr Rees added: "I'll be going to COP myself, as part of 3Ci, along with Susan Aitken who is the leader of Glasgow which hosted COP last year.

"I'm chair of Core Cities now. Our real drive in COP is to begin to connect the near £300bn of decarbonisation opportunities that we've identified across the UK's biggest cities with the finance that will be at COP."

3Ci are covering the mayor's travel, accommodation, and visa for him to attend COP27.

In May, voters in Bristol decided to abolish the role of a directly-elected mayor following a referendum, opting instead for a committee-based system.

Additional reporting by Emma Hallett