Ian Townsend Email & Phone Number

I lead the division at the UK's Office for National Statistics dedicated to environmental statistics and analysis, including climate change, the environmental economy, green jobs and net zero, and natural capital accounting. I previously co-led (in a job-share) the division also covering the Sustainable Development Goals or 'Global Goals', inequalities and well-being.My 20+ year career includes working in private, public, academic and civil society sectors at national and city levels.From 2016 to 2019, I was CEO of Bristol Green Capital Partnership - the city's environmental sustainability community. I led city-level collaboration towards a shared vision of 'a sustainable city with a high quality of life for all', with a focus on the themes of energy, food, nature, resources and transport. I was closely involved in the city's climate emergency response, including creating new city governance structures to help deliver carbon neutral 2030 and other ambitions in Bristol's One City Plan.My sustainable cities consultancy work draws on the Bristol experience, and has focused on bringing actors together across organisation and sectoral boundaries to help cities - and businesses, other organisations and communities within them - to respond to the climate and ecological emergencies. I also have an interest in environmental communication, including studying the role individual actions for broadening environmentally positive behaviours.