Bristol City Council has signalled that it is looking to attract new investment partners to help obtain £1 billion to build a clean energy infrastructure. The move would support the city's aim of becoming entirely carbon-neutral by its 2050 target.

Of the investment opportunities that it has shared with potentially interested parties, the biggest lie within domestic energy-efficiency and heat networks. These require as much as £300 million each of investment to reach their full potential within the city.

Bristol already has a heat network, and it is hoping to expand this and create a new large-scale heating network that stretches between Severnside and Avonmouth. On the domestic energy-efficiency side, the focus will be on helping households to better insulate their buildings to cut heating costs and to address ongoing problems with fuel poverty in some households.

The council's spokesperson for energy and waste, Councillor Kye Dudd, said that the city was already recognised on an international scale as being a leading city in green energy and that now it was time to take Bristol's ambitions to the next level with supporting partners.

He explained that the so-called 'City Leap' plan would present a range of opportunities to businesses keen to invest in the city's green energy future, with the government acting as a change catalyst. He explained that those businesses and investors which chose to financially support the new initiatives would have a vital role in shaping Bristol's emerging energy future and enjoy an attractive ROI.

The CEO of Bristol's Green Capital Partnership, Ian Townsend, said that the initiative would play a vital part in ensuring that Bristol remained on track with its challenging carbon-neutrality targets whilst also seeking to deal with its environmental and energy challenges.