20 July 2007
City of London leads the way on climate change
The City of London is the first local authority to design a
strategy exclusively to deal with the effects of climate change and
Chris Duffield, Town Clerk and Chief Executive of the City of
London, has sent this strategy to all Chief Executives of local
authorities in England and Wales.
The City of London’s climate change strategy, titled “Rising to
the Challenge”, contains strategies for dealing with flooding,
water shortages, heat risks, air pollution and ground instability.
It also contains a checklist to ensure that all local authority
policies and projects are not overly affected by climate
change.
Chris Duffield, Town Clerk and Chief Executive of the City of
London, said “By sending this strategy out to other local
authorities I hope they will follow our lead and create strategies
of their own. I hope that this will reduce the effects of major
climate change related events in all areas of the UK.”
This strategy was created in response to the Stern review, which
highlighted the fact that climate change is now unavoidable due to
the quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The City of London has long been aware of climate change and has
been taking action for many years. It began purchasing renewable
(green) electricity in 1997 and is now one of the UK's largest
buyers. The City helped establish the European Emission Trading
Scheme and in 2002 created the Sustainable City Awards, the first
awards to specifically focus on combating climate change.
The City of London is currently working with BP and Z/Yen
Consulting to develop a project entitled “The London Accord”. This
will pool the research capacity of the City’s financial services
sector to determine the most cost effective ways of tackling
climate change.
Notes
Download the “Rising to the Challenge”
strategy document