London's green economy is thriving, despite the downturn, according to new figures published today by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Figures compiled by INNOVAS for a report commissioned by the Mayor, has examined in detail for the first time, the health of the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector in London during 2009-2010. It reveals that the sector grew by over four per cent a year, was supporting 9,000 companies employing 160,000 people and importantly, is set to grow further. In addition, of the 23 individual areas comprising the green economy as identified in the report, London is ranked first in 13 when comparing overall market value.

The new analysis, published in summary today, shows that London's environmental strengths, when compared to other UK regions, were in carbon finance, geo-thermal (which includes ground source heat pumps, local heat networks and combined heat and power plants), solar/photovoltaics and waste management. Carbon finance makes up the biggest share of this, worth nearly £6billion, and with nearly 2,000 companies employing over 23,000 people. It also accounts for 97 per cent of the UK carbon finance market. This is in line with London's pre-eminence as a leading financial centre and the power house of the UK economy.

London showed strengths in those businesses operating in decentralised energy (energy produced locally, rather than coming from inefficient centralised power sources) including companies involved in heat networks, combined heat and power technology and photovoltaics. This ranged from research and design, through to consultancy, manufacturing and supply of specialist equipment. This knowledge, expertise and capacity can help support London achieve the Mayor’s target to deliver 25 per cent of London’s energy from decentralised energy sources by 2025.

The snapshot of London's green economy shows in detail the state of the green economy by borough. It showed that the largest share of the green sector sits in the City of London (predominantly due to its position as the centre of carbon finance). However, Westminster and Dagenham & Barking also have a high market share, due to strengths in waste management, geothermal energy, solar/photovoltaics, building technologies and alternative fuel vehicles.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: 'Making London an energy efficient, low carbon city is not only vital to meet environmental challenges, but it will also attract significant new investment into the city and create tens of thousands of jobs for Londoners. These figures clearly show that the capital is already established as a leader in low carbon finance and it is encouraging to see our city gathering strength in other significant areas of the green economy, such as renewable energy and low carbon building technologies. The focus of our programmes designed to improve London's environment and our quality of life, are helping to stimulate this growing sector of our economy, for example, our initiatives to retrofit tens of thousands of buildings with energy efficiency measures.'

Key findings in the INNOVAS report:

• Over 9,000 companies are active in low carbon and environmental goods and services sector in London;
• Together the 9,000 companies are employing 160,000 people;
• Despite the economic downturn, the value of London’s low carbon and environmental goods and services sector has grown by over four per cent a year, with sales to a value of over £23 billion in 2009-10;
• Despite the economic downturn, employment in the sector has grown from 157,000 in 2008-09 to 160,000 in 2009-10 (3,000 new jobs). These are mainly in the new emerging low carbon sector;
• London’s low carbon and environmental goods and services sector is forecast to be over £27 billion by the end of 2012/13 (an 18 per cent increase on 2009/10 levels).

There are also a number of areas where London underperforms compared to other UK nations and regions. These include the following sub sectors: recovery and recycling, energy management and building technologies. The market opportunity for these areas in London and globally is considerable, representing real opportunities for London’s companies to increase their market share whilst supporting London to achieve its environmental goals.

The Mayor is championing green economic growth to attract investment and create jobs in part through his vision to 'retrofit London' to make it energy efficient and save money off bills. This will also put London on track to meet his target of cutting carbon by 60 per cent by 2025.

The Mayor today visited the £30 million Siemens Crystal being constructed in east London, which is being designed to meet the most stringent environmental construction standards in the world. Located in the Mayor's Green Enterprise District it will show how the latest infrastructure technology can make the world’s cities better places to live and work now and in the coming decades. The Green Enterprise District is part of the Mayor's plans to attract low carbon investment and create green collar jobs to make London a leading centre of environmental goods, services and skills. More recently, the Mayor of London and Newham Council successfully negotiated an Enterprise Zone for the Royal Docks which will offer inward investment incentives to help maximise development opportunities within the Royal Docks.

The Mayor's vision is for many major investors to locate to this area and he recently unveiled a £36million sponsorship deal with Emirates for a cable car across the Thames (now known as the Emirates Air Line) which will link this area of London with the Greenwich Peninsula. The Emirates Air Line north station currently under construction is next to the Siemens Crystal. 

The full document to be published shortly has been commissioned to give planners, investors and London boroughs easy access to much more detail on this emerging sector helping, for example, a company to decide where to locate or spotting a gap in the market. The report will identify clusters of enterprises working in the same supply chain, to help the co-location of similar enterprises. The information aims to identify opportunities that exist in their borough to inform local decision making, such as employment and environmental programmes.

This summary document was issued as the Mayor published strategies that set out detailed plans to preserve and protect London's environment for decades to come. This includes plans to become an energy efficient city, cut carbon emissions, secure the city's water supply and adapt the city to changing weather patterns.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• The executive summary of the INNOVAS report can be found here: www.london.gov.uk or by emailing environmentdesk@london.gov.uk 
• The environment strategies (the Mayor's water strategy; the Mayor's climate change mitigation and energy strategy; and the Mayor's adaptation strategy) can be found here: www.london.gov.uk or by emailing: environmentdesk@london.gov.uk . The documents are being published in their final form after being published for two rounds of statutory consultation.
• The Mayor's environmental programmes include:

RE:NEW - This programme, for London’s homes, takes an area-based, door-to-door, hassle-free approach to home energy efficiency retrofitting and is delivered through and with the London boroughs. Eleven-thousand homes have already been retrofitted, with a total of 55,000 due by end of March 2012. The Mayor is working to integrate RE:NEW with new energy efficiency and energy supply funding streams, so retrofitting can be free upfront for all homes through a pay-as-you-save model, offered to all London homes by 2030.

RE:CONNECT - This programme, for London’s communities, consists of ten low carbon zones in London, each of which has signed-up to deliver a 20.12 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2012. The zones take a novel approach to community engagement, aiming to significantly increase uptake of energy efficiency and energy supply programmes and measures in homes, workplaces and other community buildings by concentrating activity at a neighbourhood level.

RE:FIT - This programme, for London’s workplaces, is retrofitting London’s public sector buildings. It has already secured guaranteed energy savings of £1 million per year for the GLA group from 42 pilot buildings. The model is available to every public sector organisation in London. One-hundred-and-forty organisations have already shown interest in the model to date, with 200 buildings committed to be retrofitted, to the combined value of over £35 million.

Decentralised energy programme - This programme is deploying new low carbon energy supply infrastructure in London. The Mayor has already undertaken the first ever decentralised energy master-planning exercise across London and is now supporting the commercialisation of large-scale decentralised projects which can heat and power London’s existing and new buildings more carbon-efficiently. An expert team is offering commercial and legal advice, helping to secure the investment needed to deliver these projects on a large scale.

Green Fund – Significant levels of funding committed to climate change mitigation programmes: New London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) announced worth £100m to fund retrofitting of public sector buildings. This is in addition to the waste fund which aims to attract £200m of private funding.

RE:FIT Project Delivery Unit – Significant funding secured to roll-out public sector retrofitting: €2.8 million (approx £2.4 million) secured from European funds to roll out wider retrofitting of public sector buildings. 200 buildings committed to be retrofitted, to the combined value of over £35 million.

Decentralised Energy Project Delivery Unit – Significant funding secured to roll-out decentralised energy in London: £3m secured from European funds to commercialise and delivery decentralised energy projects in London.

RE:NEW – Already 11,000 homes retrofitted, with 55,000 expected by March 2012. The largest energy efficiency programme of its kind in the UK, and an effective delivery model for the Green Deal.

Electric vehicle roll-out – The Mayor wants London to be the electric car capital of Europe, with the GLA building its fleet and a new charging infrastructure being rolled out to support the introduction of 100,000 electric vehicles as soon as possible. Source London is the largest electric charging network in the capital with more than 200 charge points – 1300 are planned by end 2013. Source London offers a one-stop-shop membership scheme for drivers paying an annual lump sum for limitless re-charges.

• Opening in Summer 2012, the Siemens Crystal represents a £30 million investment into East London. One of the capital's landmark sustainable buildings, it will be an exciting new visitor attraction and will offer state-of-the-art conference facilities. As a global knowledge hub, the centre aims to bring the general public together with city decision-makers, urban planners, architects, engineers, policy makers and sustainability experts from around the world to discover how sustainable technologies can shape a better future for our cities. For more information: www.thecrystal.org