City Focus
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energy infrastructure, alongside initiatives to increase the energy effi ciency of its building stock through retrofi t programs and strict rules for new development. But public funds are in short supply, particularly following the harshest spending cuts in generations, ordered by the Conservative-led coalition government to head off fi nancial disaster in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. This means private sector investment is essential to successfully cutting the UK capital’s carbon emissions, and the city is enthusiastically putting frameworks in place to encourage the fl ow of private capital into London’s environmental programs.
Green Fund Kulveer Ranger, the mayor’s director of environment, says: “The mayor has set ambitious targets to reduce London’s carbon emissions by 60% of 1990 levels and establish the city as the world’s leading low-carbon city. These are not
goals that we can achieve in isolation, not least as the scale of investment needed to deliver this is around £40bn ($65bn). “Migrating towards a low-carbon London not only has obvious environmental benefi ts but also signifi cant economic opportunities as well. We have focused on constructing programs that can be ramped up quickly on the ground, in terms of scale, but that are also attractive to private sector investment and delivery. “Not only are we backing this up with our own programs, we have developed the London Green Fund, which will invest leveraged fi nance from private sector partners into near-to- market waste and energy infrastructure. This innovative approach ensures maximum value for public money. “Essentially, the public sector’s role, as we see it, is to help stimulate the markets for low-carbon services and goods in
CO2
of London’s total emissions come
43%
from public sector and commercial buildings
the short-to-medium term, in order to then gradually lessen the need for public investment. While the mayor sets a strategic direction, we believe there are many skills the private sector is better placed to bring to the table. This includes developing eff ective, attractive fi nancing models.”
This is where the Carbon War Room comes in, with its focus on identifying and facilitating the fl ow of private capital into
city energy-effi ciency initiatives, driving progress
towards lower carbon emissions through private capital investment with
attractive returns in terms of profi t. Chief Operating Offi cer Peter Boyd
says: “The idea of the Green Capital: Global Challenge is to deploy private capital into energy-effi ciency fi nancing for retrofi tting buildings. London is at an early stage, so we’re working to support their teams, with the plan being that they benefi t from Carbon War Room’s ability to convene and push for the right
“The mayor has aggressively championed innovation in London’s approach to the environment and specifi cally emphasized the
importance of working with the private sector” KULVEER RANGER, MAYOR’S DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENT
WWW.CARBONWARROOM.COM ISSUE 02. JUNE 2011
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