29 October 2008
Response to 'Greenwash' on Guardian Online on the City Climate
Pledge
The City of London Corporation is very serious about persuading
City firms to take action on climate change, and works hard to
ensure that it is taken seriously in such matters.
Until last year, the City was the largest purchaser of
renewables in the country. It was also the first Local Authority to
produce an adaptation strategy and was responsible for the
establishment of the Carbon Markets. It has also produced the
London Accord.
There were a number of factual inaccuracies in the “Greenwash”
report and these are corrected below
- The Climate Pledge was launched in July of this year;
- There are currently three organisations who have completed
registration, a further 22 are currently completing
applications
- The Pledge asks companies to publicly report on their
emissions, and to update their reports on an annual basis, thus
enabling progress to be tracked. The reporting form is based on
that used by the Carbon Disclosure project
- Targets are not appropriate as each company is starting from a
different point- a company which has been tackling its emissions
for five years will find it much harder to reduce its emissions by
10%, than a company which has done nothing
- Specialist technical support is provided by the BRE for
companies who have signed the pledge and are seeking to reduce
their emissions
- The pledge has established the City Climate Fund, which enables
signatory companies to contribute to local renewable energy
projects.
For further information please contact:
Susanna Howard
Press Office
City of London Corporation
Susanna.howard@cityoflondon.gov.uk
020 7332 3450/07956 660 802