Bradford Council and the University of Bradford are leading by example in a pledge to do their bit to tackle climate change on World Environment Day on Tuesday.

An event will be held at the University to further encourage Bradford businesses to reduce their impact on the environment.

The Council's executive member for environment and culture, Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, and the new vice-chancellor of the University of Bradford, Professor Mark Cleary, will make a public pledge to tackle climate change together.

The event is part of the Council's Eco-City campaign, which was launched at the end of March and saw local organisations, such as Yorkshire Water, Royds Community Association and Beckfoot School, pledge to improve their environmental performance.

Now the Council and university will re-affirm their plans to coincide with World Environment Day. The Council aims to cut its carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2011 and the university wants to reduce its carbon emissions by 4,000 tonnes of CO2 year-on-year.

Workshops are being held on energy efficiency, sustainable construction, recycling and waste management, biodiversity, travel planning and transport and sustainable procurement.

Coun Hawkesworth said: "The Council is committed to reducing its impact on the environment and encouraging other organisations and businesses to do the same.

"The Eco-City campaign is about working together to come up with new and exciting ways to make our businesses greener and respond pro-actively to the changes in our environment. It's good commercial sense that saving energy also means saving money, and no business can afford to be left behind."

Prof Cleary will make his first public appearance on behalf of the university at the pledge-signing event.

He said: "The university is already making huge strides to address environmental sustainability through its Ecoversity project, which we are implementing not only through our multi-million pound estate regeneration, but also through our teaching - bringing sustainability into the curriculum and allowing students and staff to reinforce its importance to their friends and colleagues."

The Eco-City campaign was launched by the Environment Partnership, made up of representatives from the public, private and voluntary sector that work together to tackle the key environmental issues affecting the district. Bradford Council, the Environment Agency, Bradford Environment Forum, British Waterways, Bradford Vision and the Chamber of Commerce are some of the organisations involved.

For more information about the free event and how to get tickets contact Lucy Ashall, Environment Partnership Development Officer, on (01274) 434933.