Mayor of London launches £500m green bond funding for low-carbon projects

City Hall announces new investment to help the UK capital achieve its net-zero target by 2030, and tackle the energy crisis. 

A £90m fund has been issued by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as part of a wider green finance drive in London, with the hope of catalysing a total of £500m in green bonds. Projects focused on improving energy efficiency in social housing units and public buildings, and those aimed at integrating solar power and low-carbon heating, will receive support.

The money, which comes from GLA funding, has £4m earmarked for public and private sector work, with the remaining £86m used to launch the green bonds programme. It is estimated in excess of one million tonnes of carbon could be saved each year the project is active, reducing overall energy consumption in the city by 328,638 MWh each year. This equates to the energy used by around 85,000 homes annually. 

“I’ve committed to making London net-zero by 2030, faster than any other comparable city. We are facing a pivotal moment in our efforts to tackle the triple dangers of toxic air pollution, climate change and congestion to the health of Londoners and wider society,” said Khan. 

“That is why I am leading the way by committing £90 million to help unlock more than £500 million of private investment through green bonds to support low carbon projects and create the green jobs that will help make our target of a zero-carbon capital a reality by the end of this decade,” he continued.

Currently, around 78% of London’s annual operational emissions are caused by housing and business buildings. In 2016, a Zero-Carbon Home standard was established, mandating all new builds must be net-zero by 2025, although this will only impact a relatively small portion of buildings that will stand in the capital by 2030, when the city aims to be net-zero overall. 

In related news, earlier this week the London borough of Hackney unveiled a new online air pollution map. 

Image credit: Robert Bye