In 2015, the city of Bristol has been Europe’s Green Capital. This was also an outcome of 40 years of environmental efforts with great progress in many areas. Now, Bristol is willing to help other cities around the world to “go green” by sharing its experience and knowledge about sustainability at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21). The city is doing this through a free online toolkit called The Bristol Method (https://www.bristol2015.co.uk/method/) which documents everything Bristol has learnt from its year as European Green Capital so other cities can benefit.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has recently undertaken a mid-term review of the 2011 EC Transport White Paper. Why is this significant? Well, the EESC has been around also long as the European Union and was set up in the 1950’s is a consultative body to provide a formal platform to express points of views on EU issues. Its opinions are forwarded to the Council, the European Commission (EC) and the European Parliament. In theory therefore it has a key role to play in the EU's decision-making process.