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Search Results for: adaptation
Managing London’s Exposure to Climate Change
6 October 2016: Number of interesting recommendations made in thinktank, Future of London’s new report on climate change adaptation. The report – Managing London’s Exposure to Climate Change – was launched at an event held at Arup’s offices yesterday morning.
The GLA’s lead officer on climate change adaptation presented at the event and stated that a revision to the existing London Climate Change Adaptation Stragegy was currently underway – and would be issued for consultation in Spring 2017.
Notes from a workshop ‘Funding Climate Change Resilience’ that fed into the report’s findings can be found here.
Tweets from the launch event can be seen on the hashtag #FoLClimateRisk
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Future London Climate Risks Set Out
12 July 2016: The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) Adaptation Sub Committee (ASC) published a major new study today providing a detailed scientific assessment of climate change risks to UK. Further information is provided in the following press release, a summary synthesis report, which also links to the individual six sector chapters – which includes a chapter on ‘People and the Built Environment‘ (which is examined below)..
Below is a summary of some of the points most relevant to London from the synthesis report:
- Urban water management: climate change is expected to lead to significant increases in heavy rainfall, with sewers in many urban areas already at or over capacity. More action is needed protect individual properties whilst also beginning to redesign urban landscapes (such as through the use of sustainable drainage approaches) to be able to cope with more intense patterns of rainfall. [p32]
- At present, there are no comprehensive policies in place to adapt existing homes and other buildings to high temperatures, manage urban heat islands, nor safeguard new homes. The level of risk from overheating across the UK is unknown for hospitals, care homes, schools, prisons, and places of work. [p33]
- The urban heat island effect. UK planning strategies do not currently make specific recommendations for reducing the heat island effect such as through planning and urban design, beyond promoting urban green space. [p34]
- More action needed to deliver sustainable drainage systems, upgrade sewers where appropriate, and tackle drivers of increasing surface runoff (e.g. impermeable surfacing in urban areas). [p61]
- Climate-related hazards damage historic structures and sites now, but there is a lack of information on the scale of current and future risks, including for historic urban green spaces and gardens as well as structures.[p66]
- The action underway in London to assess and manage risks of overheating on public transport should continue, together with similar action as needed elsewhere in the UK. [p66]
Posted in Library, News
Tagged Buildings, Cities, Climate Adaptation, Health, Transport
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Resilience to climate change: who pays (and who benefits)?
October 2015: A Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Royal Geographical Society event taking place on the evening of 17 November 2015 exploring community resilience and adaptation to climate change. Chairing the event will be Alex Nickson, Strategy Manager, Climate Change Adaptation, Greater London Authority (and lead on the Mayor’s London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy). Full details on how to register are posted here.
The Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change & Cities
19 June 2015: It’s unlikely I’m going to get through the full 180 pages of the Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change (by the way – if you’re looking for the contents page – it’s at the end of the document), but I did want to see if there was anything there on cities – and was pleased to see that there is specific consideration on how the quality of life of urban dwellers is impacted on by the state of the environment around them.
Selected below are parts of the Encyclical that touch upon the challenges placed upon cities due to environmental stresses and increasing climate change. Much of it is quite general, and much of it is probably more targeted at those growing mega-cities of the South – but the points equally resonate to pockets of deprivation in London as well as in many other developed cities.
“44. Nowadays, for example, we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise. Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water. Neighbourhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space. We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.
The Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change – and cities
19 June 2015: It’s unlikely I’m going to get through the full 180 pages of the Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change (by the way – if you’re looking for the contents page – it’s at the end of the document), but I did want to see if there was anything there on cities – and was pleased to see that there is specific consideration on how the quality of life of urban dwellers is impacted on by the state of the environment around them.
Selected below are parts of the Encyclical that touch upon the challenges placed upon cities due to environmental stresses and increasing climate change. Much of it is quite general, and much of it is probably more targeted at those growing mega-cities of the South – but the points equally resonate to pockets of deprivation in London as well as in many other developed cities.
“44. Nowadays, for example, we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise. Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water. Neighbourhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space. We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.
Energy & Climate Questions to the Mayor
January 2015: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:
Fuel Povery and Children; Meetings of the Mayor’s London Green Infrastructure Task Force; Membership of the Mayor’s London Green Infrastructure Task Force; London Plan policies encouraging development of solar farms; consideration of carbon emissions in policy decision making
Invitation to attend the European Capital Cities meeting ahead of the Paris 2015 IPCC summit; Progress made in 2014 to delivering the London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy; Measuring CO2 emissions across the GLA Group; An update on the GLA group’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) reports; the Mayor’s concern over increasing signs of climate change; GLA Economics analysis on energy
Communication to the Treasury over tax incentives for community energy projects; TfL’s hedging policy on energy prices; Misleading information on shale gas; Reallocation of RE:NEW funds to RE:FIT programme; Havering Solar Farm planning application; New powers to Ofgem; RE:NEW programme underspend; An update on RE:NEW programme projections; Research commissioned by the GLA’s Environment Team
Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Carbon Emissions, Climate Adaptation, Community Initiatives, Photovoltaics, RE:FIT, RE:NEW
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Risks of Climate Change to the London Economy
June 2014: Interesting to note that the London Assembly Economic Committee are to hold an evidence session on 24 June 2014 at City Hall on ‘Risks of Climate Change to the London Economy’.
The meeting is to take place at 10.00am in Committee Room 5 . This is the first meeting for the Economy Committee’s new investigation into the resilience of London’s economy to the projected impacts of climate change on the city. A briefing paper drafted for members of the committee can be downloaded here.
The proposed terms of reference for the Committee’s investigation are:
- To map the likely effects of climate change on the London Economy; identifying the sectors most at risk and the likely effects on jobs and prosperity;
- To establish best practice amongst the business community, in terms of risk assessment and adaptation strategies; and
- To make recommendations addressing the risks from climate change to the London economy to the London Enterprise Panel and the Mayor, and potentially other representatives of London Government where appropriate.
Guests include:
- Nick Beecroft, Lloyd’s of London
- Daniel Dowling, PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Professor Samuel Fankhauser, Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment
- Michelle Hubert, Confederation of British Industry
- Professor Christopher Rapley CBE, London Climate Change Partnership
The Mayor has previously stated that TfL has extreme weather resilience action plans for each business area. London’s 2011 Climate Change Adaptation Strategy can be viewed here.
Former London advisor appointed as Directior of C40 Cities
January 2014: The C40 Cities climate network announced in a blog post just before Christmas that it had appointed Mark Watts as its new Executive Director. Mr Watts was previously Ken Livingstone’s energy and environment advisor, leading in the development of a number of key London climate mitigation and adaptation programmes, including London’s first Energy Strategy in 2004 and the 2006 London Climate Change Action Plan.
Cities Today provides a profile, relating that “Watts’ ties with C40 go back to the foundation of the organisation as he was the officer in London’s City Hall tasked by then Mayor Ken Livingstone to build a new network of major cities. The C20, as it was at the time of its launch in 2005, grew out of conversations London was having with cities such as Stockholm, San Francisco and Toronto about forming a strategy on climate change.”
Mark will be joining the Boris Johnson’s current energy advisor, Matthew Pencharz, at the C40 Cities Summit, to take place in Johannesburg in a few weeks time.
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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor
September 2013: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:
How the Mayor’s programmes will respond to the forthcoming IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 5th Assessment Report; the Mayor’s “climate sceptic views“; London’s growing energy demand; £145k spend on climate change adaptation; the amount of energy generated from waste incineration; the number of GLA officers working on energy efficiency retrofit; the amount of ECO funding that could be directed to London; the operation of the RE:FIT schools energy efficiency programme in Harrow; the RE:FIT schools programme in Brent; Government’s proposed changes to building regulations and its potential impact on London Plan energy requirements; the Mayor’s response to DECC’s Community Energy – Call for Evidence; the Mayor’s support for community energy schemes in London – such as Brixton Energy; publication of the latest London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (LEGGI); the cost of producing ‘Using Local Powers to Maximise Energy Efficiency Retrofit – How to’ materials for London’? (report here); the terms of loans provided by the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF); extending LEEF loans to the private sector; details of the LEEF Advisory Committee; consultancy companies working on LEEF; the amount spent by LEEF; the number of loans given out by LEEF; rollover energy contracts for SMEs; Londoners energy bills; the amount of renewable electricity provided by Source London electric vehicle charging points; funds previously spent on adding energy efficiency measures to Metropolitan Police buildings currently for sale; developing a Fuel Poverty Action Plan for London; the supply of electricity to London’s electric vehicle charging points; the supply of electricity to London Underground; London Green Deal targets; a London Green Roofs map; the Mayor’s Green Deal assessment on his home; stimulating Green Deal finance packages; spend of the Green Bus Fund; funding received from the Green Bus Fund; identifying brownfield land in London suitable for sustainable energy projects; CO2 savings achieved by the Mayor’s climate change programmes; potential for the London Pension Fund Authority to invest in low carbon energy projects; when the next update to the Mayor’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy is to be published; how climate change will affect London’s summer temperatures; new anaerobic digestion plant in Surrey; the level of waste being directed to the Beddington incinerator; the London Plan’s policies on incineration; the Mayor’s approval of the Beddington incinerator; if the Mayor had pressed for the Beddington project to develop as a anaerobic digestion plant; if the Beddington incinerator can operate in combined heat and power (CHP) mode; heat network around the Beddington incinerator; the growth of waste incineration in London to 2016; the role for future incineration in London; local planning controls and fracking; the fracking potential in London; details of the new RE:NEW domestic energy efficiency programme; targets for the new RE:NEW programme; the choice of the Capita Group to manage the new RE:NEW programme; GLA buildings that have been treated by the RE:FIT programme; whether the Mayor’s Environment advisor had visited the Kings Cross CHP and district heating scheme.
Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.
Posted in Decentralised Energy, Energy Efficiency, News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Anaerobic Digestion, Brent, Buildings, Carbon Emissions, CHP, Climate Adaptation, Community Initiatives, Energy Security, Funding, Green Deal, Harrow, Lambeth, London Green Fund, Natural Gas, Planning, RE:FIT, RE:NEW, Retrofit, Schools, Transport, Waste
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HECA & London
July 2013: Last year the Government issued new guidance, issued under the Home Energy Conservation Act (HECA), requiring all (English) local authorities to publish a report by 31 March 2013 setting out their plans to achieve improved energy efficiency. Before looking at how London boroughs responded to this new requirement, it helps to have a quick look back to how this all came about…
Following a short limited release consultation in June 2012 – DECC published its new guidance on 26 July 2012 for local authorities (or – as the guidance states – to English Energy Conservation Authorities) with Minister Greg Barker stating in the accompanying press release that:
“This new robust guidance will support and encourage all local authorities to realise the significant benefits of upgrading homes. The Green Deal will be a fantastic tool to help with this, and I look forward to hearing how local authorities are using it to enable people to save energy and money.”
“A well developed report in response to HECA, highlighting key opportunities, will help attract potential funding partners to work with the authority and other local community groups and stakeholders to the benefit of local residents and businesses.”
A Local Government Association briefing note produced shortly after provides some useful background on the guidance requirements.
Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor
July 2013: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:
the Mayor and climate change denial; whether the Mayor will be publishing an update to his Climate Change Adaptation Strategy; if an audit of the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) will be undertaken; progress under LEEF; promotion of water efficiency measures; commissioning an energy security of supply study for London; the proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the Mayor and energy suppliers; Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and RE:NEW; confirmation of the single loan provided by LEEF; the Transport for London (TfL) energy strategy; TfL emissions action plan; clarification on the Mayor’s policy on waste incineration; fracking in London; the Mayor’s comments on climate prediction; differences between the Mayor’s comments on climate prediction and the London Climate Change Adaptation; the Mayor’s 2013/14 budget for climate adaptation; TfL climate risks action plan; the Mayor’s work with the insurance industry on building regulations; funding a health sector building to be climate resilient; climate risk information to Health & Well Being Boards; the Mayor’s commitment to look at overheating; work on risks related to flooding and critical infrastructure; flood risk data portal; surface water management plan for London; performance of the Green Deal in London; avoiding future electricity blackouts in London; weather data for London; work on the London Rivers Action Plan; developing community-led responses to heatwaves in London; buildings in London using cool-roof technology; studies with social housing groups on insulation and overheating; work with CIBSE on overheating in new developments; green roofs in London; helping offset the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in London; in light of the Mayor’s recent article – whether he will be abandoning Action 5.1 of his Climate Change Adaptation Strategy; an update on the London Drought Plan; the number of schools in London with rainwater harvesting systems; work on an intensive urban greening retrofitting pilot project to manage surface water flood risk; the work of the Drain London Forum; working with communities at flood risk; approved suppliers on the RE:FIT framework; the Citigen CHP scheme; how the Mayor will stop the Green Deal being a total disaster in London; Job losses in the insulation industry.
Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.
Posted in News
Tagged Carbon Emissions, City of London, Climate Adaptation, Energy Security, EPCs, Funding, Green Deal, Health, London Green Fund, RE:FIT, Transport, Urban Heat Island, Waste
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The Mayor’s latest musings on climate change
24 June 2013: The Mayor has turned to the issue of climate prediction in his latest column in the Telegraph. A piece entitled “The weather prophets should be chucked in the deep end“ suggests that “Homeowners lumbered with useless swimming pools know precisely who they should blame”. The piece continues:
“For more than 20 years now, we have been told that this country was going to get hotter and hotter and hotter, and that global warming was going to change our climate in a fundamental way….We were told that Britain was going to have short, wet winters and long, roasting summers.”
“That’s what they said: the BBC, and all the respectable meteorologists – and I reckon there were tens of thousands of people who took these prophecies entirely seriously.”
“They thought they were doing the sensible thing and getting ready for a Californian lifestyle – and they were fools! Fools who believed that the global warming soothsayers really meant what they said or that they had a clue what the weather would be in the next 10 years….and now these so-called weather forecasters and climate change buffs have the unbelievable effrontery to announce that they got it all wrong. They now think that we won’t have 10 years of blistering summer heat; on the contrary, it is apparently going to be 10 years of cold and wet.”
It should be noted that the Mayor has released a comprehensive climate change adaptation plan for London in 2011 which states as a key headline message [p12] that “London has already experienced some changes to its climate and we should expect warmer wetter winters and hotter, drier summers in the future.“
The strategy also goes on to sensibly point out that “There will be years when summers are wetter, or winters are colder than the predicted trend. This does not mean that the climate change projections are wrong, or that efforts to reduce emissions are working, but it underlines the complexity and natural variability of the climate. Adaptation actions must allow for this variability.” [p27]
A previous article (and see here) penned earlier this year by the Mayor, pontificating over the extended winter weather period London had been experiencing, and its possible relationship to sun spots, elicited a number of critical responses, including one from London Assembly Member Jenny Jones, as well as questions being asked in the London Assembly (here and here).
In contrast to Boris’s purple prose today, it’s interesting to see the comments made at the launch of the New York climate change resilience strategy earlier this month by Mayor Bloomberg:
“Citing the perils of climate change and the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday called for a sweeping $19.5 billion initiative that would include new coastal protections and zoning codes for the city as well as new standards for telecommunications and fuel provision.“I strongly believe we have to prepare for what scientists say is a likely scenario””.
The report – A Stronger, More Resilient New York – can be downloaded here.