London’s Climate Change Strategy Case Study

In 2007, the Mayor of London launched the ‘Action Today to Protect Tomorrow’
campaign.

It aims to reduce 30% of emissions by 2050.

This is to be achieved by:
- The ‘Green Homes Programmes’ where new homes receive subsidised
or free home insulation.
- Setting new building standards for energy efficiency.
- Investing in local renewable energy schemes e.g. solar/wind power.
- Providing clean, efficient public transport. This involves converting all
8000 London Buses to diesel electric hybrids.
- Raising congestion charge to £25 for heavily polluting vehicles.
- Encourage cycling and launching the ‘Bike Hire’ scheme.
- Promoting low carbon goods and services through the councils.

The Mayor aims that by 2025, London is one of the world’s leading low carbon cities,
with a thriving low carbon economy, some of the world’s most energy efficient
buildings, a secure and efficient energy supply, and world class low carbon transport.

The strategy aims to:

- reduce carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate climate change.
- maximise economic opportunities from the transition to a low carbon
capital.
- ensure a secure and reliable energy supply for London.
- meet, and where possible exceed, national climate change and energy
objectives.

To help Londoners play their part in reducing carbon dioxide emissions the Mayor is
rolling out RE:NEW, a programme to help Londoners save energy and money on
their energy bills at home. The Mayor’s ambition is that every home will get energy
saving measures in their homes by 2030.

The Mayor’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy does three things:

- identifies who and what is most at risk today.
- analyses how climate change will change the risk of flood, drought and
heatwave through the century.
- describes what action is needed to manage this and who is responsible
for it.

The key actions proposed in the strategy are:

- To improve our understanding and management of surface water flood
risk.
- An urban greening programme to increase the quality and quantity of
greenspace and vegetation in London – this will buffer us from floods
and hot weather.
- To retro-fit up to 1.2m homes by 2015 to improve the water and
energy efficiency efficiency of London homes.
Adapting to increased flood risk

The Mayor is working to manage, and where possible, reduce flood risk. To achieve
this we will:
- map who, what and where is at flood risk today.
- use climate projections to understand how climate change will affect
the floods of tomorrow.
- work with the emergency services, utilities companies and other
partners to make the most critical services in London flood-resilient.
- use greenspaces and plants to absorb floodwater.
Much of this we are already doing and shall continue to do in the future.

Safeguarding London’s water supply in a drought

The Mayor is working to make London more drought resilient and water efficient. To
achieve this we will:
- continue to work the four major London water companies to ensure
that delicate balance between water supply and demand is maintained.
- help Londoners to use less water by installing water metres in homes.
This will not only make the city more drought resilient but will save
Londoners money.
- ensure that new development – especially social housing – is very
water efficient.

Keeping London cool in a heatwave

The man-made materials that make up our city cause a major part of London’s
overheating problem. The Mayor’s strategy to keep London cool is to:

- ‘re-green’ the city by using vegetation and green-spaces to provide

shading, cooling and insulation. Not only will this help to cool the city
and take the edge of heatwaves, but it will make the city a more
beautiful and pleasant place to live.
- make sure that new development is designed for the temperatures of
tomorrow and that mechanical cooling (e.g. air-conditioning) is only
used where necessary.

The Mayor’s programmes include:

- RE:NEW (formerly the Homes Energy Efficiency Programme) - This

is a truly pan-London programme aiming to retrofit 1.2 million homes
by 2015, the largest programme ever of its kind in London. It takes an
area-based, door-to-door, hasslefree approach to energy efficiency and
is delivered through and with the boroughs. Technical trials and
demonstration projects have already taken place in 9,000 homes. The
aim is for the programme to be free upfront for all homes through a
 pay-as-yousave model and to rollout measures to all London homes
that want them by 2030.

- RE:FIT (formerly the Buildings Energy Efficiency Programme) -

London’s public sector energy efficiency retrofit programme is
delivering £1 million of savings per year for the GLA group from 42
pilot buildings already. The model is being made available to every
public sector organisation in the UK and already has over 20 early
adopters signed-up. The aim is to make it upfront free and financed
through a public-private fund.

- RE:CONNECT (Low Carbon Zones) - The Mayor is delivering ten

low carbon zones in London, each of which has signed-up to deliver
20.12 per cent CO2 reductions by 2012. These zones take a novel
approach to community engagement and will aim to demonstrate that a
low carbon future is a real possibility for London. If successful, the
Mayor will explore how to extend these to other neighbourhoods.

- Decentralised energy including energy-from-waste - The Mayor is

engaged in the first ever energy masterplanning exercise across
London and is helping to develop and fund new decentralised energy
projects across the city. The proposed London Thames Gateway Heat
Network will be the largest new decentralised energy development in
Europe. The London Waste and Recycling Board’s £73.4 million fund
will also be investing in new, clean waste management infrastructure,
including energyfrom- waste facilities, so that London reduces the
carbon footprint of its waste.

- Electric vehicle rollout - London has ambitious plans on electric

vehicles and is one of the most advanced cities in the world in
delivering those plans. The Mayor wants London to be the electric
vehicle capital of Europe, with 1,000 vehicles being procured directly
into the GLA fleet and new charging infrastructure being rolled out to
support the introduction of 100,000 electric vehicles on London’s
streets.
A Vision

London will be a world-leading low carbon capital - London will have a burgeoning
and highly developed low carbon goods and services sector, creating tens of
thousands of new jobs for Londoners.

London will have a secure supply of low carbon energy - London will become its
own powerhouse. Over a quarter of London’s energy demand will be met from low or
zero carbon local sources. Instead of homes and workplaces being heated through old,
inefficient and costly boilers, they will be heated through efficient large-scale low
carbon heat networks, such as the London Thames Gateway Heat Network, and from
onsite combined heat and power plants. Londoners will also be generating their own
low carbon energy through extensive micro-renewable technologies like solar panels
on their homes or where they work. People’s waste will help heat their homes, with
all waste either recycled or converted into low carbon energy at London’s waste to
energy plants.

London will have some of the most energy efficient buildings of any large city in the
world - The majority of London’s existing homes will have had a whole-house energy
efficiency refit, making them cheaper to run and more comfortable to live in.
Public and commercial sector organisations will meet ambitious carbon dioxide
(CO2) targets and save money on energy bills, with 50 per cent of existing
workplaces retrofitted through the RE:FIT programme. New development will be zero
carbon, combining energy efficiency with onsite and large-scale low and zero carbon
energy generation, making them both cost effective and a pleasure to live and work in.

London’s transport network will be well on the road to zero emissions - London’s
transport network will be the envy of the world with Londoners moving around
quickly and easily using a pioneering range of innovative low carbon alternatives,
such as one of 100,000 electric vehicles in the capital.