In 2015, Bristol became the first UK city to be named European Green Capital, recognised for its “progressive, creative and conscious approach to urban living.” A decade on from winning this significant accolade, Bristol is now the highest performing English city in the latest Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) index, and continues to celebrate its reputation as a leader in sustainability.
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00:00So actually 2025 marks the 10 years since Bristol was the first UK city to be given
00:08Green Capital of Europe status. And really since then we've built a lot on our sustainability
00:14credentials in the city. So it's our responsibility really, as the local visitor economy partnership
00:23in Bristol, to highlight the different sustainable choices that people can make when they come
00:29to the city or if they're locals and they stay here. So for me, I've been highlighting
00:34a few of the different things that we can do. So if you are a visitor coming to the
00:39area, you can look at just staying in a sustainable accommodation. So we've got over 5,000 hotel
00:46rooms in and around Bristol, but there's quite a few hotels that are really pioneering in
00:52what they're doing for sustainability. So you could look at staying at a motel called
00:58Molly's Motel in Bristol. It's actually on the northern cusp of Bristol, very close to
01:04Cribs Causeway. That was actually designed by the Soho House team. So it's super stylish,
01:12but that doesn't come at a cost for sustainability. So they actually have EV charging points.
01:17They've got refillable products in all of their hotel rooms. You've got bike hire and
01:22paperless check-in. Or you could look at staying somewhere like Leonardo Hotel Bristol or even
01:28Moxie Bristol. Those two are sort of more city centre, and they've both got BREEAM accreditation.
01:36So they do things like they reuse rainwater. And there've been specific efforts made when
01:42those two hotels were built in the last five years to make sure that they're sustainable.
01:49But there's a number of hotels like the Bristol Hotel, you've got Premier Suites or Berwick Lodge,
01:55the Delta Hotel or the Marriott Bristol City Hotel, and the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel as
02:02well. They all hold green key accreditation. So there are some really good sustainable choices
02:09to be made there for where you stay. More than 7,500 hotels and other establishments
02:17in 80 countries are green key satisfied. And many establishments in the city of Bristol
02:25do hold this certification, which means that they are consciously green.
02:32Once you're here in the city, you can look at what choices you can make as to where you eat,
02:37or if you're local, where to go and have a nice meal out.
02:42So I don't know whether you know, but Bristol was named the vegan capital of the world
02:46in 2019 and 2020 by a survey by a website called Chef's Pencil.
02:53And we're actually the UK's second gold sustainable food city as well.