Urban sustainability: a vision for future cities

Cities hold the key to net-zero delivery, but can often lack the capacity, skills, or the finance to make their ambitions a reality at the scale needed. As Head of New City Partnerships my ultimate goal – and calling on E.ON’s position and global expertise as the playmaker in the energy transition – is to deliver the support only we can provide in creating cleaner, healthier and more resilient communities.

With a focus on sustainability, using energy efficient solutions and renewable innovations, we are driving positive change alongside city leaders, helping them to work towards their own environmental goals, and shaping the cities of tomorrow.

By building effective and collaborative relationships with city leaders, businesses and local supply chains, we will not only make this transition more affordable but create cities that are more sustainable – benefiting not only the environment but improving the quality of life for the people that live and work in them.

What sets us apart is our city-wide approach to decarbonisation – from housing and transport to business, supply chain, jobs and skills, and with social value linked to it all. We consider solutions for individual households right through to innovative large-scale renewables – bringing that breadth of resilience that’s needed in the shift to reach a future energy world.

Our long-established presence working in and with cities across Europe, including our UK home of Coventry, gives us a strong foundation for leadership in this market.

For example, as Coventry City Council’s Strategic Energy Partner, we’re helping to power the city to a cleaner, greener, more sustainable future by transforming its approach to carbon reduction, helping people save money, promoting greener transport choices, developing sources of locally-produced renewable energy – and all the while helping to boost the local economy.

Only a year into this 15-year pioneering relationship we’re delivering innovative and transformative projects in the city. Solar panels on school roofs and potentially across acres of land, retrofitting energy efficiency measures for low-income households, helping to decarbonise the city’s operations in its buildings and vehicle fleet, providing EV charging as well as finding ways to build energy resilience to protect vital services such as hospitals are just some examples. But this is only the start, and without a doubt I am certain we will make Coventry a better place through this partnership.

Bringing innovation and adding social benefit to communities is at the very heart of our cities approach – whether that’s helping to clean the air by supporting drivers as they shift to more electric vehicles, making our streets safer with better street lighting, or cutting the cost of energy bills by rolling out sustainable energy solutions at scale, not only helping to reduce fuel poverty but also creating the jobs and skills that are needed across the country to meet the UK’s net-zero ambitions.

While we’re continually learning – and while no two cities are ever exactly alike – what we do have is a working blueprint that we can share and adapt with more cities. By forging long-term strategic relationships working with key city stakeholders, we can take a holistic approach, providing not only guidance, but planning and delivering an integrated plan at scale. The key to success across such communities is to integrate these new and innovative energy solutions with the overall social value to the people of that city. There is a massive ecosystem of businesses, institutions, universities, and hospitals etc who can bring resources together, who can support and share in that wider benefit. The public sector needs the private sector, and we are the conduit that brings all components together.

My vision for E.ON’s city partnerships revolves around this collaboration – bringing innovation, community benefit and a city-wide approach to urban development. It is a real privilege to play a role in really making change happen. We can make a positive impact on the future sustainability and well-being of cities and those who live in them.