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Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan: ‘I want to be the greenest mayor London’s ever had.’ Photograph: Mark Thomas/Rex Shutterstock
Sadiq Khan: ‘I want to be the greenest mayor London’s ever had.’ Photograph: Mark Thomas/Rex Shutterstock

Sadiq Khan promises London will be run on clean energy by 2050

This article is more than 8 years old

Labour mayoral candidate says if elected he will cut the capital’s carbon emissions, after similar green pledges are made by other major cities

The Labour mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan, has pledged to put London on course to be run entirely on clean energy by 2050 if he is elected next May, amid criticism that the capital is falling behind its emissions targets.

The promise puts the capital on an equal footing with promises made in Britain’s other major cities, after the leaders of 50 Labour-run councils – including those in Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham and Glasgow – also made a 100% clean energy pledge on Monday.

Khan was speaking at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London on Monday at the launch of the 100% London campaign, based on a report by the thinktank IPPR, which shows that the capital is behind schedule to meet its carbon reduction targets while other cities around the world are “racing ahead”.

The Conservative candidate, Zac Goldsmith, who has become known for taking a stand on green issues, did not attend the event or publicly make the pledge but said he “welcomed” the campaign.

Khan said: “Yes to 100% London. If it’s good enough for Sydney and Copenhagen and New York, why not London? We’ve fallen behind in our 2025 target … I want to be the greenest mayor London’s ever had.”

The Green party candidate, Sian Berry, committed to the 100% target while Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon said she welcomed the campaign.

Goldsmith said: “100% London is 100% necessary. I welcome the 100% London campaign and will look closely at IPPR’s zero carbon plan to see what we need to do to make sure that we in London take on the challenge of climate change.”

The report by IPPR argues that City Hall is not on course to meet its target to reduce carbon emissions by 60% by 2025 from 1990 levels. In order to do so, it says, the mayor must put London on course to produce a quarter of its own energy within 10 years, create 1.4m extra jobs in public transport and retrofit 1m homes per term in office with energy efficiency measures such as insulation. Even more ambitious action is needed if the capital is to reach a 100% renewable energy target by 2050, said Jimmy Aldridge, senior research fellow at IPPR.

“London has some good low-carbon programmes and targets in place, but momentum has dropped off”, Aldridge said. “Delivery is far lower than the UK average. If the UK is to meet its national climate objectives then the capital must start leading by example.

“The next mayor should draw on the spirit that delivered the first tube network, Bazalgette’s sewerage systemand the hugely successful 2012 Olympics by setting the city on a path to 100% clean energy by 2050 … if any city can rise to the challenge, it’s London.”

The report comes one week before the doors of crunch UN climate change talks open in Paris, where leaders from more than 190 countries will meet to thrash out a new deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions post-2020. Pledges by countries to reduce their emissions would currently take the world well beyond the “safe” target agreed at previous climate change talks, but research suggests that actions taken at the local level could significantly help to make up the difference.

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