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London Mayor Ken Livingstone has launched two initiatives to help businesses wipe 3 million tonnes off their carbon emissions by 2010. The Green500 mentoring plan and the Better Buildings partnership are hot on the heels of Livingstone’s green homes initiative launched last week. They all form part of London’s Climate Change Action Plan, which has a long-term target of cutting the city’s annual 44 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.
Launch members of Green500 include Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Ikea, Chelsea Football Club, EDF Energy, The John Lewis Partnership, Eversheds, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, Transport for London and Sky.
The scheme costs £3,500 to join and will offer advice and support for businesses looking to cut their emissions. In practice this appears to consist of a 'carbon mentor' to help businesses meet their emissions targets and an annual awards shindig to congratulate those who do. Support for Green500 organisations will be drawn from a number of sustainability experts including AEA Technology, Future Considerations, Mouchel and the National Energy Foundation.
The Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) appears to be more substantial and has got a number of major commercial landlords on board, including Land Securities, The British Land Company, Hammerson, Hermes Real Estate, Transport for London, and Grosvenor. Joining the BBP costs £10,000 and its role is to show landlords how to retrofit older buildings with up-to-date green features to meet new sustainable guidelines. It has the support of the London Climate Change Agency and the London Development Agency.
In addition to outlining best practice, the BBP is introducing Green Leases, which were pioneered in Australia and aim to encourage both landlord and tenant to cut emissions.
According to the Mayor’s office, businesses and public sector organisations currently produce a third of London’s emissions, and it says that if all of the actions in its Green Organisations programme were introduced, employers could save up to 20 per cent on their energy bills and achieve significant reductions in carbon emissions.
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