Katie Townsend, Senior Communications and Advocacy Officer, shares the critical insights from our flagship event.

London is a world leader in the race to net zero. Since 1990, greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 37%, and carbon emissions per Londoner have dropped by 52%. That’s a remarkable achievement for a growing city. This monumental effort deserves to be celebrated.

But the reality is, we’ve got a long way to go to reach our net zero by 2030 goal. The easy wins for decarbonising parts of our city and economy have been accomplished. Now we must accelerate action to make London’s ambitious target a reality.

Hidden behind the discussions around targets, deadlines and action plans are the real effects of the climate crisis on Londoners. We are already experiencing a hotter, wetter and (simultaneously) drier London, and it will only get worse. The impacts are major – hitting our access to clean water, making our homes, businesses, schools and hospitals susceptible to flooding, and severely impacting our health and livelihoods.

So, London has led the way – but now, with rising temperatures, polluted air and record rainfall, London’s future as a safe, habitable city is on the line. That’s why this year’s London Conference focused on urgent action: how do we decarbonise the capital, fast? From bold ideas to practical next steps, here’s what our expert panellists and keynote speakers had to say.

Keynotes

We were delighted to be joined by two high-profile keynote speakers – Michael Shanks MP, Minister for Energy Security and Howard Dawber OBE, Deputy Mayor for London for Business and Enterprise.

Both shared bold visions for London’s green future, highlighting the vast opportunities of the transition to net zero, and London’s readiness to lead.

Minister Shanks specifically spoke to the benefits of green energy. He touched on national security, the expansion of green jobs and how sustainable energy protects the most vulnerable. Concluding, he called on all present to continue to champion the merits of the green transition, to maintain the foot on the gas (but preferably a suitable, green alternative) – to ensure action remains consistent in the capital.

Praising Centre for London’s choice of focus, he was clear from the outset: the debate is no longer whether we decarbonise, but how. London, he argued, has positioned itself as a global leader in the green transition – setting an example other cities can follow, while also attracting vital investment. Today, one in four pounds of London’s foreign direct investment is directed towards green initiatives. He closed by emphasising that decarbonisation isn’t a trade-off: embracing the economic opportunities of the transition can go hand in hand with creating a healthier, more liveable city for Londoners.

Ecosystem

What do we mean by ecosystem? Kicking off the discussion, our Research Director, Rob Anderson, introduced the range of topics Centre for London is exploring, under this umbrella term – equitable access to green space, increased biodiversity, and an economic system which protects and rebuilds, rather than depleting, the environment. His data insight session presented a mixed picture for the capital:

• London boasts rich, blue and green biodiverse space, we have 53% green cover and a fifth of the city with tree coverage.
• Yet access remains unequal – a significant proportion of London’s green spaces is held in private gardens, with many poorer households having little or no access to green, blue or biodiverse spaces.
• London is behind the curve when it comes to other global cities like Sydney and Singapore.

The data session was followed by an expert discussion chaired by Asad Rehman, CEO of Friends of the Earth, with Abby Crisostomo, Head of Green Infrastructure at the GLA, Ben Coulter, Head of Sustainability at London Legacy Development Corporation, Professor Muthu De Silve, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Birkbeck University and Patrick Scally, CEO of Hackney Wick & Fish Island Community Development Trust.

Starting specifically with London’s trees, panellists highlighted that trees are not only essential for helping London adapt to climate change – they are also living assets increasingly at risk because of it. Abby Cristostomo highlighted how the city’s green spaces are already changing, prompting the GLA to rethink its approach. This includes considering new tree species, inspired by those thriving in warmer parts of Europe, to ensure long-term street coverage and more equitable access to green spaces across the capital.

This focus on equitable access to the green transition was a consistent theme among panellists – with a stress on co-creation across sectors as well as communities. Prof. Muthu De Silva cited international examples. In Austria, the Aspen Mobile Lab which looks at sustainable mobility solutions and works with communities via games and apps to co-create ideas. Meanwhile, Denmark has a green lab aimed at generating, storing and sharing green energy which works across sectors to collect data and come up with more integrated policies.

Ben Coulter continued, sharing how cross-sector community work is, in part, why development corporations are essential to local decarbonisation efforts. Development corporations allow for assets of a local area to be managed by an umbrella authority whose purpose is to ensure the local communities, businesses and ecosystems thrive. Ben highlighted how this structure facilitates conversations and joined-up, localised workstreams. This hyper-local focus was reiterated by Patrick Scally, who stated that its effectiveness relies on some of the language around net zero and the green transition to ensure they fit with people’s lives rather than in the strict structure of policy. It’s about allowing for novel ideas which build towards a green future to creatively grow, outside the strict confines of net zero structures. He shared an example from Hackney Wick where oyster shells are being turned into concrete.

Speaking of concrete, our top question from the audience Q&A asked – how do you align the need for green spaces and access to nature with the need for more housing? The panel, however, challenged the framing. Given policies around biodiversity net-gain, alongside tight planning regulations, new developments can and do add to the ‘greenness’ of a place. Crisostomo shared how London developments, done cleverly, have allowed us to join up natural assets through green corridors, and that this should be viewed as an opportunity, not a barrier.

Across the board, there was a sense that there is much to be positive about, but that the discourse and action can be siloed. We must be able to advocate for and build a greener, cleaner and more biodiverse London. It’s about totting up the natural capital to demonstrate the value of London’s ecosystem, while creating a joined-up conversation across the diverse stakeholders working to protect and improve London’s ecosystem.

Adaptation

Data from across the globe is confirming an increasing likelihood that we will be living in a 2+ degree future. As our CEO, Antonia Jennings pointed out, currently our city is not equipped to deal with that drastic rise in temperature. And the consequences will be felt most by the poorest and most vulnerable Londoners. Her data insight session highlighted the stark reality facing those living in the capital:

• Over 2,000 London homes flooded in 2021, this is set to rise as we see more extreme weather.
• 43% of London’s properties will be at risk of subsidence by 2030, compounding issues from the housing crisis and creating a major issue for Londoners whose financial safety net is tied up in their home.
• Deaths caused by extreme heat are projected to triple by 2050.
• 1 in 5 Londoners already live in homes which are overheating.

Heat topped the list of urgent risks flagged by our panellists. Chaired by Ashok Sinha, Chair of the London Sustainable Development Commission and CEO of Ashden, we were joined by Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair of the London Climate Resilience Review, Dr Tom Dollard, Parter for Sustainability and Innovation at Pollard Thomas Edwards and Chair of the Green Homes Alliance, Per Grankvist, Chief Storyteller and City Consensus builder at Viable cities and Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer at Transport for London.

Emma Howard Boyd began by mirroring our CEO’s tone – the situation is critical. In 2022, the Met Office advised the Climate Change Review Board that they would not see a 40-degree day in this decade. A few months later, London’s temperature rose above 40 degrees for the first time in UK history. Heat has consequences. On 19 July 2022, amid the heatwave, trains shut down for fears of cables sagging or lines buckling. The underground networks were sweat boxes of dangerous temperatures. And the London Fire Brigade had its busiest day since World War II.

Shashi Verma continued in the same vein, unpacking cooling through a transport lens. He discussed the difficulties with cooling a historic tube line with little-to-no ventilation. With less money available from government, there’s a continued toss-up between fixing something that is currently breaking, or future proofing against further damage. Across public services, he said, where possible, we need to design in climate resilience and cooling tactics, rather than adapting old, poorly designed models to be fit for the future.

In the spirit of solutions, Tom Dollard spoke to the design techniques which can alleviate the impacts of heat. South-facing tower blocks, for example, are easier to adapt to keep cool, while East and West facing blocks can face significant issues with overheating. In terms of individual homes, he said bedrooms have to be the retrofit priority as people overheating as they sleep is most dangerous. First, it’s about shutters, preventing heat from getting in. Second, insulating the space against heat. And finally – air conditioning, but that should only be required in certain circumstances. Within this model of retrofit and adapting our buildings for the future, he praised the Passivhaus design which has internal shading and shutters with increased thermal benefit. His message was clear – we have many of the solutions to hand, we just need to invest in innovative design which adapts to these emerging challenges.

Moving from the hyper-specific, to the more theoretical, Per Grankvist spoke to the way our climate goals get stuck in interdepartmental workings. While speaking of the Swedish model, the same can easily be translated to London. Our work on climate action is split between two departments at national level – DEFRA and DESNZ. At a local level, the GLA and all 32 borough councils also need to buy into the plan and the prioritisation of adaption. Grankvist recommends an ambitious consensus framework, one which builds a conversation and is underpinned by compromise. It starts with a common goal – one driven by people, who are emotive by nature. The work needs to be emotionally true, locally relevant and scientifically true, in that order. An example of this in the climate space, is that in the UK, 120,000 grassroots football games were cancelled last year. This story makes the resilience and adaption conversation understandable, relevant to people’s local experience of life and – at its core – is something people care about.

Again, the community angle came across strongly among all panellists. As Shashi Verma concluded in the transport context, the poorest and most vulnerable are those most at risk as we experience the realities of a 2+ degree future.

Infrastructure

London is its infrastructure – our homes, from leaky Victorian terraces and heating up high-rises, to our transport, from our congested roads to our zero-emission buses, and our old and overloaded energy and waste systems – collectively, they make our city liveable.

Daniel Reast took to the stage to unpick the data around decarbonising our infrastructure, highlighting the sheer amount of work still to do:

• Half of London’s homes do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.
• While London’s transport is world-leading in decarbonising, cutting emissions by 31% in the past 20 years, it lags behind other sectors.
• Over 14 billion vehicle miles were travelled by cars and taxis in 2024, with 10 boroughs seeing their car population grow since 2010.

Building liveable infrastructure is critical to creating a sustainable city – as we decarbonise, we must see infrastructure improve. Chaired by Piali Das Gupta, Associate Director at Roretti, our expert panellists Craig Carson, Regional Director at Barratt London, Seb Dance, Deputy Mayor of London for Transport, Councillor Claire Holland, Leader of Lambeth Council and Chair of London Councils and Syed Ahmed OBE, CEO of Community Energy London came together to share their sectoral expertise.

Claire kicked off the panel with a speech announcing new research from London Councils on financing the retrofit upgrades desperately required in the capital. They estimate that by blending £224m of existing grant funding with £194m in government funding capital, their new retrofit programme could unlock an estimated £400m in private finances. Combined, this £829m investment would support the retrofit of approximately 20,000 new homes.

This set off a series of conversations about innovative responses to the green transition across the capital’s infrastructure. Building off the work done by London Councils, Craig Carson spoke to the power of collaboration between the private and public sector – Barratt London are currently working and sharing expertise with Places for London to effectively utilise land in close proximity to stations. He went on to reiterate Tom Dollard’s earlier point that Passivhaus technology is critical, as developers look to both build sustainably and build more with less. Claire echoed this perspective, stating that, “building wisely is not always the same as building more expensively”.

Sustainable homes are only truly sustainable if they’re well connected by public transport. At the same time, new train, tram and DLR routes can unlock substantial numbers of new homes. Seb Dance highlighted Thamesmead as a key example of post-war development which favoured the car, without having the proper public transport to support housebuilding on a larger scale. This is set to change with the latest government announcement of the DLR extension to Thamesmead, allowing people to choose more sustainable transport options.

The Deputy Mayor went on to share TFL and the Mayor of London’s goal for 80% of journeys to be taken by public and active travel by 2041. In Inner London, there’s some strong stories to tell – even without a tube stop, Hackney has already reached that 80% goal. Outer London, however, lags behind with 65% of journeys taken by private car. The reality is that in areas without easy connections, the car is the intuitive, convenient and most accessible choice. He directly called on government to make the investments required to increase the density of the transport network in those Outer London boroughs.

Seb Dance concluded by challenging the false narrative that to invest in London is to take away from the rest of the country. In the case of TFL, investing in London transport means money flowing directly into other cities such as Manchester and Birmingham – in fact, for every £1 spent on the London Underground 55p is spent elsewhere in the country. The Deputy Mayor stated that, “yes, we need that new tram system in Leeds, and an underground system in Manchester, but that doesn’t negate the importance of a dense London transport network” – both to improve lives of Londoners and to provide the economic potential to invest in other areas.

Finally, as across the rest of the day, the conversation was brought back to the community level. Syed Ahmed highlighted how you need to involve people in discussions, to not only bring them along for the ride, but also allow them to help steer the train. In London, there are 20,000 community buildings like churches, schools, art studios, and similar buildings which require retrofitting. Syed shared the significance of the neighbourhood model. Prove that you can retrofit community buildings, and do so well, then the local communities are much more likely to let you into their own home to make the necessary renovations to be sustainable. The community energy schemes are therefore vital to the wholesale retrofit agenda. The Mayor has announced an eighth round of the Community Energy Fund – which has doubled in amount – and yet Syed expects they will still be oversubscribed. The momentum behind community energy exists, we just need the political willpower, and financial support, to make it happen.

Jumping across the major infrastructure projects in the capital, this panel proved the point with which this blog began – London is a world-leader in decarbonising, but there’s still so much more to do.

Conclusion

The ambition in the room was palpable. But how do we channel the energy, drive and innovation into a comprehensive plan to decarbonise the city?

At Centre for London is launching a two-year, evidence-led and solution-focused research programme – considering how we tackle the toughest decarbonisation challenges.

We’re looking for partners, to join critical conversations, share your expertise, breakdown the siloed discourse, and play a critical role in the research shaping the capital.

Join us to shape London’s green future.