Jenny Jones' work on climate change

Climate change is the greatest threat to London's prosperity, and has been a major priority for Jenny since 2000.

Three highlights of her recent work are the economic impacts, the potential for solar energy, and opposition to airport expansion.

Economic impacts of climate change

As chair of the Economy Committee in 2014-15, Jenny led a groundbreaking investigation exploring the way that global warming could hit London's economy.

While the impacts of flooding and heatwaves on business here are relatively well known, the committee heard of cutting edge work on the impacts of climate change to London as a global city. Extreme weather overseas can disrupt supply chains, damage investments, and rack up huge costs for our insurance industry.

The impacts on small and medium businesses could be even more significant than larger companies because bigger firms have the resources to plan ahead and protect themselves.

Download the committee's report from this page.

Solar energy

The growing gap in solar energy between London and the rest of the country has been one of the main issues explored in Jenny’s work on renewable energy. She has pressed the Mayor to get behind solar in London and to address the reasons why other areas of the UK (including Scotland and the North) have been so much more successful.

In July 2014 she published a report on London's poor performance, with recommendations for the Mayor. She followed this up with a detailed proposal tabled during the budget process in January 2015, showing how the Mayor could set-up a Solar PV Delivery Unit.

Due to the Government’s reversal of policy on renewable energy, Jenny has tried to enlist the Mayor’s support in mitigating the cuts in subsidy for solar power and the devastating impact this is having on the industry. The Mayor has estimated that up to 10,000 jobs could be at risk in London and several large companies have already had to lay off staff. Boris has describe the solar industry as going off a ‘cliff edge’.

Airport expansion

Heathrow expansion has been consistently opposed by the London Assembly for over a decade, due to the growing influence of environmental concerns.

The case against expansion because of the impacts on air pollution has been consistently pushed by Jenny, as have the issues of noise and climate change.

Whilst Assembly opposition to aviation expansion because of climate change has often waivered, Jenny has ensured that it is never a forgotten issue.