London's growing green economy could be worth more than £27bn by April 2013, according to a major new report designed to help businesses step up investment in low carbon and environmental services.
The preliminary findings of the study, released yesterday by consultancy Innovas, reveal that the capital's low carbon and environmental goods and services firms have grown four per cent between 2009 and 2010 despite the economic downturn.
The report also concluded that the sector employs 160,000 people across 9,000 businesses, with key strengths in carbon finance, geothermal power, solar photovoltaics and waste management.
In addition, Innovas highlighted areas where London is underperforming, such as waste recovery and recycling, energy management and building technologies.
The study, which was commissioned by the Mayor's Office, is expected to inform planners, investors and London boroughs as they seek to support the development of the capital's green businesses.
The full report is expected to published in the coming weeks, and will identify clusters of enterprises working in the same supply chain in an attempt to encourage similar green businesses to co-locate.
Mayor Boris Johnson said he was encouraged by the figures, suggesting that they demonstrate the success of London's environmental policies, such as his RE:NEw insulation scheme.
"The capital is already established as a leader in low carbon finance, and it is encouraging to see our city gathering strength in other significant areas of the green economy, such as renewable energy and low carbon building technologies," he said.
However, the news emerged just a day after Johnson launched a campaign designed to tackle the low uptake of government-subsidised energy efficiency schemes.
Johnson warned this week that Londoners have missed out on £350m worth of energy efficiency measures owing to low adoption rates for the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT), Warm Front and Warm Homes Discount schemes.
London boroughs have the lowest UK home insulation rates under CERT, which places an obligation on energy companies to cut the amount of carbon emitted by households, primarily by offering free cavity wall and loft insulation.
Johnson said that retrofitting was "at the top of his to-do list", and urged households to take advantage of the offers.
However, Green Party Assembly member Darren Johnson accused the mayor of "hypocrisy", after he oversaw delays and budget cuts to London's own RE:NEW scheme.
The project has visited only 13,865 homes so far, and there is no confirmed funding available to reach the 95 per cent of homes estimated to require insulation.
"The mayor has dithered while more than a million people are shivering in their homes this winter," said Johnson.
"I'm amazed that he claims this is at the top of his to-do list. He lost his home insulation budget for future years to cuts, and he has failed to secure any changes to the national scheme that has left London short changed by £350m."
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