Bret Willers
Head of Climate Change & Sustainability
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Coventry City Council
Bret is Head of Climate Change & Sustainability for the City of Coventry. He is responsible for strategic oversight of all energy and environmental programmes across the City as a Council and also Citywide for an independent Sustainability & Climate Change Board in partnership with other public, private and third sector partners and stakeholders. Much of this work includes a number of major energy transformation initiatives the Innovate UK funded Regional Energy Systems Operator (RESO) in Coventry. He also oversees two professional environmental consultancies (Business Sustain and the Green Business Programme) which support SME’s and large companies with advice support and guidance for energy and environmental management, health and safety and compliance with standards (e.g. ISO4 0001) and legislation.
A former Director in Birmingham City Council and CEO of Sunderland’s New Deal for Communities Regeneration Programme with over twenty years senior management experience in local Government and the Charitable sector (Henry Doubleday Research Association and Soil Association) with a particular focus on addressing environmental and sustainable development issues. Bret led the development of the City of Cardiff’s first Environmental Strategy with achievements that earned the City the status of first ‘Energy City’ (with Newcastle) and ‘Recycling City’ (with Sheffield) and winning an International Council Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) award during the Rio Earth Summit. Coventry, a CDP ‘A’ Rated city, is committed to delivering a zero carbon agenda cutting across all areas of its business activities covering transport as well as buildings and infrastructure and in addition to the RESO Project it has a number of joint ventures delivering energy infrastructure across the City.
A Graduate ecologist from University College Cardiff and Chartered Biologist and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Entomological society with a history of addressing environmental and public health issues. Bret represented Welsh interests on the Environment, Energy and Regional Development policy at the Wales European Centre in Brussels and represented Eurocities in the EU’s Urban Environment Expert Group assisting in the drafting of the Aalborg Charter and the European Strategy for Sustainable Cities and Towns as well as representing local government interests during the development of the UN’s Habitat II Global Strategy and Programme for Sustainable Human Settlements in the New York PrepComm meetings and the Summit in Istanbul.
Bret is Head of Climate Change & Sustainability for the City of Coventry. He is responsible for strategic oversight of all energy and environmental programmes across the City as a Council and also Citywide for an independent Sustainability & Climate Change Board in partnership with other public, private and third sector partners and stakeholders. Much of this work includes a number of major energy transformation initiatives the Innovate UK funded Regional Energy Systems Operator (RESO) in Coventry. He also oversees two professional environmental consultancies (Business Sustain and the Green Business Programme) which support SME’s and large companies with advice support and guidance for energy and environmental management, health and safety and compliance with standards (e.g. ISO4 0001) and legislation.
A former Director in Birmingham City Council and CEO of Sunderland’s New Deal for Communities Regeneration Programme with over twenty years senior management experience in local Government and the Charitable sector (Henry Doubleday Research Association and Soil Association) with a particular focus on addressing environmental and sustainable development issues. Bret led the development of the City of Cardiff’s first Environmental Strategy with achievements that earned the City the status of first ‘Energy City’ (with Newcastle) and ‘Recycling City’ (with Sheffield) and winning an International Council Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) award during the Rio Earth Summit. Coventry, a CDP ‘A’ Rated city, is committed to delivering a zero carbon agenda cutting across all areas of its business activities covering transport as well as buildings and infrastructure and in addition to the RESO Project it has a number of joint ventures delivering energy infrastructure across the City.
A Graduate ecologist from University College Cardiff and Chartered Biologist and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Entomological society with a history of addressing environmental and public health issues. Bret represented Welsh interests on the Environment, Energy and Regional Development policy at the Wales European Centre in Brussels and represented Eurocities in the EU’s Urban Environment Expert Group assisting in the drafting of the Aalborg Charter and the European Strategy for Sustainable Cities and Towns as well as representing local government interests during the development of the UN’s Habitat II Global Strategy and Programme for Sustainable Human Settlements in the New York PrepComm meetings and the Summit in Istanbul.