Mayor announces bold plans to secure a green, clean and healthy future for London

• A new net-zero by 2030 report, commissioned by the Mayor and released today, outlines the bold action required to reduce air pollution, tackle the climate emergency and cut congestion in the capital to create a greener, healthier city fit for the future
• Mayor says the report must act as a stark wake-up call for the Government on the need to provide much greater support to London to reach net-zero by 2030
• The new report states that in order to meet the climate change targets, car traffic must reduce by at least 27 per cent in London by the end of the decade
• More than a third of car trips made by Londoners could be walked in under 25 minutes and two thirds could be cycled in under 20 minutes
• Mayor today announces potential approaches to be considered to reduce vehicle use in London – saying the cost of inaction to our economy, livelihoods, the environment and the health of Londoners would be far greater than the cost of reducing carbon emissions and air pollution
• Report comes just a week after new analysis showed vehicle congestion cost the capital £5.1bn in the last year, and has risen to pre-pandemic levels, leading to gridlocked traffic and filthy air pollution

A new report published today by Element Energy, commissioned by the Mayor of London, sets out the scale of the action required to move London towards a greener future and net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The new analysis shows that more action will be required by City Hall, particularly around reducing vehicle use in London, but that the Mayor does not have the funding or powers to deliver everything that’s required alone.  Sadiq will call the report a stark wake-up call for the Government on the need to provide much greater support to help London reach net-zero by 2030 and help the UK reach our national target, announced before COP26.  

Between 2000 and 2018, London achieved a 57 per cent reduction in workplace greenhouse gas emissions, a 40 per cent reduction in emissions from homes, but just a 7 per cent reduction in emissions from transport.[1]

In order to reduce transport emissions by anywhere close to the amount required to clean up London’s air, achieve net-zero by 2030 and cut congestion, the capital will have to see a significant shift away from petrol and diesel vehicle use and towards walking and cycling, greater public transport use and cleaner vehicles. At the moment, just two per cent of vehicles on the roads in London are electric.

The Mayor has already taken ground breaking action to tackle toxic air, carbon emissions and congestion in the capital by introducing and then expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone and tightening Low Emission Zone standards – which is expected to lead to a five per cent fall in CO2 emissions from cars and vans in the zone and a 30 per cent cut in toxic nitrogen oxide emissions from road transport. But the new report shows how much more action is required.

The Mayor will say that the cost of inaction – to our economy, livelihoods, the environment and the health of Londoners - would be far greater than the cost of taking the necessary action to transition to net-zero and reduce air pollution.   

Last year, we saw the impact of the climate emergency first-hand in London with soaring temperatures and flash floods in the capital. City Hall analysis has shown that if extreme temperatures and flooding get worse, a quarter of London’s rail stations, 1 in 5 schools, nearly half of London’s hospitals and hundreds of thousands of homes and workplaces will be at risk of flooding in the future. 

The capital has seen a shift to driving during the pandemic with the cost of congestion rising to over £5 billion last year, leading to gridlocked roads and toxic air pollution. The number of miles being driven in the capital has increased in recent years, despite statistics showing that more than a third of car trips in London could be made in under 25 minutes by walking, and that two-thirds could be cycled in less than 20 minutes.

The toxic air pollution being caused by London traffic is leading to nearly 4,000 premature deaths a year and children growing up with stunted lungs. The action already committed by the Mayor will reduce the number of air quality-related hospital admissions by one million by 2050, helping save the NHS and social care system £5 billion.  However, if no additional action is taken to reduce air pollution beyond the existing polices, around 550,000 Londoners would develop diseases attributable to air pollution over the next 30 years and the cumulative cost to the NHS and the social care system is estimated to be £10.4 billion. 

The Mayor believes this is also a matter of social justice – with air pollution hitting the poorest communities the hardest. Londoners on lower incomes are more likely to live in areas of the city most badly affected by air pollution and least likely to own a car.  Nearly half of Londoners don’t own a car, but they are disproportionally feeling the damaging consequences polluting vehicles are causing.   

The report sets out that to achieve anywhere near a 27 per cent reduction in car vehicle kilometres, London will need a new kind of road user charging system implemented by the end of the decade at the latest. Such a system could abolish all existing road user charges – such as the Congestion Charge and ULEZ - and replace them with a simple and fair scheme where drivers pay per mile, with different rates depending on how polluting vehicles are, the level of congestion in the area and access to public transport. Subject to consultation, it is likely there would be exemptions and discounts for those on low incomes and with disabilities, as well as consideration around support for charities and small businesses.

The Mayor recognises that London could benefit from more sophisticated types of technology to introduce this kind of simple, fair road user charging scheme and has therefore asked Transport for London to start exploring how it could be developed. However, it’s clear the technology to implement such a scheme is still years away from being ready. 

Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the damaging impact of toxic air pollution, the Mayor believes bold action must be taken now. That’s why the Mayor is announcing today that he is considering a number of policies that could be ready within the next few years to encourage Londoners and those who drive within London to shift from polluting cars to electric vehicles, public transport and sustainable active travel, such as walking and cycling.

The potential approaches under consideration are:

• Extending the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) even further to tackle more of the dirtiest vehicles: extending the current zone beyond the north and south circular roads to cover the whole of Greater London, using the current charge level and emissions standards.
• Modifying the ULEZ to make it even more impactful in reducing emissions: building on the existing scheme by extending it to cover the whole of Greater London and adding a small clean air charge for all but the cleanest vehicles.
• A small clean air charge: a low-level daily charge across all of Greater London for all but the cleanest vehicles to nudge behaviour and reduce the number of short journeys by car
• Introducing a Greater London boundary charge, which would charge a small fee to non-London registered vehicles entering Greater London, responding to the increase in cars from outside London travelling into the city seen in recent years.

The Mayor and TfL will now begin a period of consultation with Londoners, local government and businesses about the way forward to achieving the clean, green and healthy future London and the world desperately needs.

All options under consideration would be subject to full equality impact assessments, with mitigations and exemptions put in place for Londoners on low incomes and with disabilities a key focus of any scheme development. The Mayor is determined to deliver a just transition to net-zero in London by not only making sure those on lower incomes are always protected, but by ensuring the wider benefits of moving to a green economy, including more jobs, lower fuel bills and better health outcomes, are felt by everyone, particularly the poorest and most disadvantaged in London. 

Subject to consultation and feasibility, the chosen scheme would be implemented by May 2024.  

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “This new report must act as a stark wake-up call for the Government on the need to provide much greater support to reduce carbon emissions in London. It’s clear the scale of the challenge means we can’t do everything alone. 

“But I’m not willing to stand by and wait when there’s more we can do in London that could make a big difference. We simply don’t have time to waste. The climate emergency means we only have a small window of opportunity left to reduce carbon emissions to help save the planet, and, despite the world-leading progress we have made over the last few years, there is still far too much toxic air pollution permanently damaging the lungs of young Londoners.

“This is also a matter of social justice – with air pollution hitting the poorest communities the hardest. Londoners on lower incomes are more likely to live in areas of the city most badly affected by air pollution and least likely to own a car.  Nearly half of Londoners don’t own a car, but they are disproportionally feeling the damaging consequences polluting vehicles are causing.   

“We have too often seen measures to tackle air pollution and the climate emergency delayed around the world because it’s viewed as being too hard or politically inconvenient, but I’m not willing to put off action we have the ability to implement here in London. I’m determined that we continue to be doers, not delayers – not only to protect Londoners’ health right now, but for the sake of future generations to come.       

“It’s clear the cost of inaction – to our economy, to livelihoods, to the environment and to the health of Londoners - would be far greater than the cost of transitioning to net-zero and reducing toxic air pollution. That’s why I’m today beginning a conversation with Londoners, local government and businesses about the best way forward to create the green, sustainable city we all want to see.”

Christina Calderato, Director of Transport Strategy and Policy at Transport for London said: “Road based transport has for many years been a major contributor towards poor air quality and carbon emissions and we are determined to reverse this through a wide range of programmes across TfL. The world-leading road user charging schemes we've delivered throughout the last 20 years have been really effective in addressing congestion and tackling air quality across London, but it is clear that as a city we need to go further. These new approaches will allow us to take further steps towards a net-zero city and we will ensure that Londoners and those who regularly visit London are involved as we progress this work in more detail.”

Jemima Hartshorn, Mums for Lungs, said: “Today is a good day for London’s kids. The Mayor has re-emphasised his commitment to cleaning up the toxic air by reducing traffic dramatically during his current tenure. Currently thousands of Londoners are still dying prematurely of illnesses linked to air pollution, but with the right schemes in London, this will be a thing of the past. We now call on national Government to give the Mayor the powers and funds to future-proof London and follow his leadership in putting health first.”

Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities Campaign said: “This is one of the most significant announcements from any European city right now. No leader should declare a climate emergency and air pollution crisis and then skip the details, so I congratulate the Mayor and his team on this report. With these plans, the Mayor commits London to a growing momentum to phase out polluting cars. We now need all actors to play their part – the London boroughs and this Government included – so that climate talk becomes the climate walk.”

Daniel Firth, Director of Transport, C40 Cities network said: “Many cities in our global network are working to transform urban mobility to make it cleaner, greener, healthier and easier for people to get around. This transformation is not only critical to holding global warming to 1.5 degrees in the next 10 years, it also helps mayors tackle rising levels of air pollution and traffic congestion. Already, five C40 cities like London, Singapore and Milan have road user charging schemes in place. A further five C40 cities like Amsterdam, Beijing and Seoul are regulating vehicles with strict low emission zones. Several C40 cities are following their peers and have recently begun exploring options for road user charging including New York, Vancouver, Portland and San Francisco. The potential health, environmental and social-equity gains are clear and many more cities will be looking seriously at rebalancing the way they charge for different forms of urban mobility in the next few years."

ENDS

Notes

• Please contact economicdesk@london.gov.uk for an embargoed copy of the full report.
• Element Energy’s report can be found here on Tuesday 18 January: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/climate-change/zero-carbon-london/pathways-net-zero-carbon-2030 Their analysis shows that under all pathways it is possible to accelerate action and radically reduce carbon emissions with the right ambition, leadership, powers and funding. By 2030, we could save a cumulative 13-48 MtCO2e compared to the previous 1.5°C pathway, increasing to 102-248 MtCO2e by 2050.
• This will require concerted action across buildings and transport from all London stakeholders including Government, the GLA group, boroughs, other public bodies and businesses. The Mayor cannot deliver the target alone.
• Much of the 57 per cent reduction in workplace greenhouse gas emissions from buildings has been due to decarbonisation of the electricity grid. Cutting building emissions further will require replacing gas boilers with low carbon heating and significantly insulating our homes – something the Mayor is taking action on through his retrofitting partnership programme.
• The science since 2018 has shown the need for even more urgent action and the stark consequences of failing to act.https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/london-faces-threat-of-soaring-temperatures
• The Mayor is aiming to make London net zero by 2030.
• Time is running out to keep global warming at 1.5°C or below. Above this threshold, scientists believe climate change could unleash far more severe effects on people, ecosystems, and wildlife. The IPCC warned last year that the world has a remaining budget of 360-460 billion tonnes of CO2 to release into the atmosphere if warming is to remain below 1.5°C this century.[2]
• While climate change is already having devastating effects in low-lying countries across the world, London too has seen the repercussions including serious flooding, heat waves and rising temperatures – which in 2020 caused microfractures in Hammersmith Bridge to widen, leading to the bridge being closed.
• The Mayor of London revealed the cost of traffic congestion to the capital and warned that unless efforts increase to deliver a green, sustainable recovery from the pandemic, the capital could move from one public health and economy crisis to another, caused by filthy air and gridlocked roads: https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/cost-of-congestion-in-capital-revealed
• Cleaner electric vehicles also emit pollution through brakes and tyres, making the shift to public transport, walking and cycling crucial in future.

The pathway required by 2030

• Nearly 40 per cent reduction in the total heat demand of our buildings, requiring over 210,000 homes and 15,000 non-domestic buildings to be retrofitted each year;
• 2.2 million heat pumps in operation in London by 2030;
• 460,000 buildings connected to district heating networks by 2030
• A 27 per cent reduction in car vehicle km travelled by 2030.
• Fossil fuel car and van sales ended by 2030 and enforced