Four Jobs Rees declares another pecuniary interest

The mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, has added another job to his register of interests: “An honorarium from 17 Rooms (Center for Sustainable Development at The Brookings Institution and The Rockefeller Foundation)”. An honorarium is effectively payment for services for which fees are not traditionally required. Rees registered it under ‘employment’ as a pecuniary interest.

This fourth addition fits alongside being chair of the City Regions board (1.5 to 2 days a week), chair of Core Cities, and non-executive director at Plimsoll Productions.

We only know his mayoral salary, £83k, and his LGA allowance, £17.5k. The rest of the payments in addition to his £100k from public funds, are undisclosed.

The Center for Sustainable Development researches and promotes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “within and across all countries”.

As part of the centre, 17 Rooms is an experimental method for advancing the economic, social, and environmental priorities embedded in the world’s SDGs. It’s formed by the Washington D.C. based Brookings Institution and The Rockefeller Foundation (last seen in Bristol with the Resilient City award).

Economic growth is at the core of the SDGs and presented as the engine for eradicating poverty. But, as the UN rapporteur for poverty…