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Bristol\u2019s former mayor Marvin Rees is being paid by an American energy efficiency giant that he granted a major contract to \u2013 one of the largest the city council has ever signed off on.<\/p>\n Reporting on the stories that matter to you. Only with your support.<\/p>\n Ameresco\u2019s 20-year partnership with Bristol City Council, known as City Leap, aims to decarbonise the city\u2019s energy network and was struck in 2022. The deal was first tendered at \u00a312 billion before being reduced to \u00a31 billion.<\/p>\n The firm\u2019s payments to Rees, now Lord Rees of Easton, emerged in the former mayor\u2019s first declaration in the House of Lords register of interests<\/a> after he was sworn in as a Labour peer in February.<\/p>\n Rees\u2019s newly-incorporated consulting and public speaking company, Three and Two Ltd<\/a>, lists several paying clients, including not just Ameresco but Cambridge Consulting, which helped shape the City Leap deal.<\/p>\n It is not clear how much cash Rees has received from his company\u2019s clients, or when the payments began. As Bristol\u2019s mayor, Rees did not declare payments from these firms in his register of interests.<\/p>\n Ambitious but controversial deal<\/strong><\/p>\n City Leap\u2019s PR machine describes their project as a \u201cworld-first\u201d public-private partnership. Those involved say it could provide a blueprint for other cities and regions to take on similar decarbonisation schemes.<\/p>\n The deal was struck four years after Bristol City Council became the first UK local authority to declare a climate emergency in November 2018. The council set a target of making the city carbon neutral by 2030, and its own estates by 2025.<\/p>\n At the time of the declaration, the council said it lacked the capacity, skills and financial resources to deliver the city-wide net zero target.<\/p>\n \u201cCities are where the battle against climate change will largely be won or lost,\u201d Rees said last year. \u201cBut cities will only be able to deliver on their potential if they access the right finance, at the scale and the right time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe approach we developed for Bristol City Leap is a solution to that challenge by establishing a partnership with the private sector. It\u2019s a solution I hope we will see replicated in cities across the UK and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be attractive to policy makers and climate activists because not only will it help us deliver on our climate pledges, but it supports a just transition by locking in significant economic and environmental benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n While the deal has received much PR fanfare, it has not been without its controversy.<\/p>\n It was reported in 2022 that Ameresco had been sued by schools in the US<\/a> for \u201cmisleading\u201d them on the financial terms of a similar deal. The firm faced allegations that it secretly removed financial guarantees before contracts were signed.<\/p>\n The Cable has since learned that in 2022 Ameresco faced an investigation in the US over a potential breach of fiduciary duties<\/a> involving its board of directors. One of its US subsidiaries was also fined $231,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency last year for an alleged hazardous waste violation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ameresco was approached by the Cable for comment on these investigations several times but it did not respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n As part of the Bristol City Leap deal, council staff were also transferred to work in the private sector. Bristol Energy Service staff were moved to Ameresco, while all heat network staff were seconded to Vattenfall, a Swedish power firm that is also working on the huge project.<\/p>\n A key risk the council faces in the deal, according to cabinet papers from the year the partnership was agreed, is \u201cnot realising the financial benefits, or incurring additional costs\u201d from future City Leap projects, which would mean the council losing money.<\/p>\n Concerns over the local authority\u2019s control of the financial risk came in light of the Bristol Energy scandal<\/a>, which caused significant losses to the taxpayer. The failed energy company, set up by Bristol City Council, lost around \u00a335m.<\/p>\n Setbacks and backing from fossil-fuel investors<\/strong><\/p>\n Ameresco was founded in the early 2000s by its millionaire owner George P. Sakellaris. It is now one of the largest cleantech companies in North America, partnering with private and public bodies on decarbonisation projects across the US and more recently in the UK.<\/p>\n While Ameresco specialises in clean energy solutions, two of its largest institutional shareholders are also two of the world\u2019s biggest investors in the fossil fuel industry: investment management firms Blackrock and Vanguard. Vanguard holds a 9.3% stake in the firm<\/a> worth $38 million, Blackrock 6.8%<\/a> at $28 million.<\/p>\n Vanguard and Blackrock are two of the so-called \u201cFilthy Four\u201d \u2013 a group of US-based asset managers that manage over $1.1 trillion in fossil fuel investments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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