I previously reported on the announcement of an initial £10m investment from the Mayor of London on a Green New Deal. The investment will be broken down into three areas:
- Decarbonising the Built Environment
Tackling emissions from heating and powering London’s buildings. Programmes will make homes more energy efficient and ensure London is supplied with more green energy through district energy networks and other clean sources such as solar. - Green Transport and Public Realm
Tackling transport emissions and encouraging walking, cycling and electric vehicles. Projects will also improve access to green spaces and the natural environment while increasing London’s resilience and adaptation to climate change impacts. - Green Foundations
Supporting growth of new and existing businesses in the green economy. Projects will create job opportunities and develop skills for Londoners to exploit the opportunities that the transition to a low carbon circular economy represents.
Here is what that means in turn;
Decarbonising the Built Environment
North London District Energy
Building on £30 million of investment already secured, the funding provides the capacity to capture a further 20MW of waste heat from the Edmonton Energy Recovery Facility to enable the supersizing and extension of the heat network from Enfield into Hackney and Haringey, providing near zero carbon heating to a further 8,000 properties, an increase of 50 percent on the original project.
London Community Energy Fund
The fourth phase of the London Community Energy Fund will support community energy projects such as solar panels on schools and community centres and electric vehicle charge points. The new fund includes up to £500,000 for community energy groups to deliver projects, as well as £165,000 for project development. The previous rounds of funding enabled 48 community energy projects across 81 buildings, saving up to 1,500 tonnes of carbon per year. Applications for grants will be open by the end of this month.
Old Oak and Park Royal Solar PV programme
This programme will develop and deliver solar panels on rooftops across the Old Oak and Park Royal industrial estates over a three-year period.
Phase one will install around 10,000 m2 of solar panels across ten business premises on the Park Royal estate. The wider opportunity across industrial roofs in the OPDC area has been assessed as capable of providing 213 MW of power, which could save up to one million tonnes of CO2e over 25 years and creating 820 installation jobs over a five year period. It will also support further EV charging points for other vehicles
Solar Together London
Solar Together has so far successfully supported the installation of solar panels on almost 1,000 London homes. It uses a group-buying model to unlock significant savings from suppliers (up to 35 per cent in previous rounds) which makes solar more affordable for Londoners. This round of funding will drive a London-wide programme which will also include up to £60,000 to support installers to boost their training and employment opportunities and grow the supply chain.
Green Transport and Public Realm
Bus electrification and electric vehicle charging
The project will invest in the design and delivery of power infrastructure for bus garages in London, which will ultimately enable the transformation of London’s 9,000 buses into a zero-tailpipe emission fleet.
2030 Future Neighbourhoods
2030 Future Neighbourhoods will support exemplar projects that transform whole neighbourhoods in the capital into zero emission neighbourhoods but also providing benefits across a range of environmental priorities. The programme will support projects that include:
- retrofitting homes and commercial and public buildings
- decarbonising energy systems
- zero emission transport including walking and cycling
- supporting green spaces and public realm that is climate adapted, resilient, supports fairer access to green space and supports health
- zero waste, circular economy and driving behavioural change Particular attention will be given to ensure underrepresented groups are included in design and benefit from outcomes. Project areas will look and feel different to other neighbourhoods, showcasing what can be achieved, attract other sources of capital investment and have clear costed delivery plans to 2030.
Green Foundations
Advance London
The Advance London programme managed by the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) has supported over 200 SMEs over the last 3.5 years to transition to circular business models and scale their circular economy ventures, resulting in a combined turnover of £50m.
Additional funding will broaden the existing Advance London programme by supporting start-ups and SMEs to launch and pilot circular economy ventures that will protect jobs and enable good quality businesses to be part of a green recovery. It will prioritise support to businesses in either geographic areas or sectors impacted most severely by the pandemic.
Better Futures
Tailored support to SMEs to improve the success rate and speed of low-carbon enterprises supporting London’s transition. By expanding the existing Better Futures programme, funding will provide additional and enhanced, tailored business and technical development, with a proactive focus on under-represented groups in the Cleantech sector whilst supporting internships to access the sector.
New programmes also launched
Local Energy Accelerator
A brand new £6m programme to provide expertise and support organisations to develop clean and locally generated energy projects. These projects will include district energy networks that use renewable heat sources (including river water and waste heat from London Underground), and energy technologies such as heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and smart electric vehicle charging to transform the way London generates, supplies and uses clean local energy in buildings and transport.
Retrofit Accelerator - Innovation Partnership
Social landlords are committed to decarbonising their housing stock, but current approaches to procuring deep retrofit works are cumbersome, expensive and to date have not driven the expansion of the market required to meet London’s climate change targets.
To address this, the Mayor’s Retrofit Accelerator – Homes programme has developed an ‘Innovation Partnership’ model. This new procurement approach brings together social landlords and the supply chain together in order to develop scalable solutions that accelerate the pace of deep, whole-house retrofit while driving down costs and growing jobs in the supply chain.
Grow Back Greener Fund
COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on the importance of accessible green space for Londoners’ health and wellbeing, but it has also highlighted that not everyone has easy access to green spaces. To help address this the Mayor has provide an additional £650,000 to support greening projects through his Grow Back Greener fund, on top of the £1.1 million he allocated at the beginning of this year to green urban areas, including those with limited access to green space. Charities and community groups affected by the crisis were able to apply for funding, helping them retain jobs and support people to develop their skills, while delivering new greening projects in areas of need. Successful projects will be announced in the coming weeks.