After two years of virtual events, London Climate Action Week kicked off on the 27th of June. London has recently been labelled as the green financial centre, and City Hall have announced that it has signed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. London will also be one of the first cities in the UK to run its public transport on renewable electricity. It has been confirmed that there will be a new power purchase agreement (PPA) tender to increase renewable energy use to do this.
At the event Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, called for the businesses and investors to turn towards renewable energies to keep the planet ‘liveable and inhabitable’. He also stated that renewable energy sources are not only good for the planet, but that they will also decrease the UK’s dependence on ‘autocratic regimes’.
The mayor then went on to ask businesses to assess their energy situation. He stated that both businesses and investors should now be noticing that there is no future in running a business on fossil fuels.
Khan suggested, when discussing climate change with SMEs, that it may be best to not just discuss only the science, as to not just outline the environmental impacts. Businesses are looking for ways to improve their companies and therefore discussions with SMEs regarding the positives to being more sustainable will have on the business will be more effective.
Khan claims that these positives include there being more certainty regarding the price of renewable energy, the air quality will be much cleaner and there will be a decrease in the chance of a natural disaster occurring that could have severe negative impacts on a business.
