Isra-Mart srl : London can lead the world in tackling carbon, leaders say

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London is perfectly positioned to lead the world in the fight against carbon emissions, according to Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of London First.

Speaking at a conference held by GE and London First, ‘Mind the Gap’, on how London can meet its carbon emission targets, Baroness Valentine said the solution to the carbon problem both for London and the wider world would be provided by business innovation, and that London was ideally placed to foster that innovation.

“Business doesn’t need micro-management by government or over-prescriptive regulation,” she said. “The right policy response is to incentivise business to provide solutions. Business can offer capital investment, innovation, talent and markets. London and London business is ready to lead the world in tackling the scourge of carbon.”

She said setting a price for carbon would provide a very good incentive for business to look at ways of solving the problem.

Ian Plunkett, head of energy and environment at the accountancy firm BDO, told the conference that carbon abatement was a fantastic opportunity for UK industry. “We are a tremendously innovative nation,” he said. “We’ve got a fantastic track record of pushing the envelope and creating great intellectual property, so we’ve got a lot to be positive about.”

He also supported putting a floor price on carbon, providing that it did not place excessive demands on industry. “It’s very important that we lead, but we do not want to damage UK commerce in the process,” he said.

Mr Plunkett said that, despite the tough economic climate, there was a willingness among investors to fund businesses with ideas for tackling carbon emissions based on solid business cases. “At the clean-tech, innovative end of the market, there is money to finance entrepreneurs,” he said. “Many financiers are very eager to fund early-stage ventures.”

Martin Powell, adviser on the environment to the Mayor of London, told the conference that London’s target of a 60 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2025 meant that the capital would be trying harder than the rest of the UK to reduce emissions.

He said London’s programmes on homes retrofitting, water efficiency, sewerage, energy supply, heat mapping and the establishment of the East London Green Enterprise District were pushing the capital towards meeting that target.

However, he said that with the current constraints on public spending it was crucial that business was encouraged to take on reducing carbon emissions. “We need to ensure that our business and financial services do the work,” he said. “London is seen as a consulting and business powerhouse, and we should be applying that to carbon reduction.”

He said London’s role as a centre of carbon trading was a sign of how important the city could be, and that this kind of service could be applied to other aspects of carbon reduction. “We’d like London to be the centre of carbon measurement,” he said. “Why can’t we be the Greenwich Meantime for carbon?”

Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent for the Financial Times, told the conference that progress so far had been too slow. “We don’t have the policies to change things,” she said.

She said the clearest likely effect of climate change on London would be flooding, and that she had spoken to engineers who said the best way to deal with flooding would be to sacrifice some streets to the water in order to save others. “It seems to me that we haven’t progressed at all,” she said.

Jeremy Leggett, executive chairman of solar solutions company Solarcentury, told the conference that much more progress needed to be made on carbon-free homes. “These things can be done, and it’s a savage indictment of us that we don’t do it more,” he said.

“We believe there is the mother and father of every crisis heading our way by 2015 at the latest,” he said. “This is going to be as bad as the credit crunch, maybe worse. We have to mobilise ourselves.”