ADD2466 Transfer of Hydrogen London assets

1.1. Hydrogen London was set up in 2002. It was an unincorporated consortium (henceforth ‘Partnership’) established and hosted by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to drive forward the uptake of hydrogen in London. Hydrogen London has helped catalyse several large, ground-breaking hydrogen fuel cell projects in London, it successfully lobbied Government and business and raised the sector’s public profile.

1.2. London’s Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy was the Chair of Hydrogen London, and an appointed member of Hydrogen London was the Vice-Chair (this was a member of hydrogen fuel cell engineering company, Intelligent Energy). Hydrogen London consisted of Executive members that formed the Executive Committee, and Ordinary members. The GLA provided a Secretariat on a voluntary basis for Hydrogen London, based at City Hall. The Secretariat coordinated Hydrogen London’s day to day activities, managed Hydrogen London’s membership, finances and digital services, and supported Hydrogen London in seeking and managing external funding to support its activities.

1.3. The GLA’s role in the Partnership was supported by the Hydrogen Europe Fund, which ended in 2020. The Chair, Vice-Chair and wider Executive Committee have agreed that in order to continue to effectively support Hydrogen London in progressing London’s hydrogen sector the GLA will no longer act as Secretariat and the Deputy Mayor will no longer be Chair. The GLA will remain a member of Hydrogen London. On behalf of Hydrogen London, Intelligent Energy will become the new Chair and appoint a new Secretariat, and the Executive Committee will be responsible for the management and leadership of Hydrogen London (with the GLA still being a member of the Executive Committee). Hydrogen London will adopt an updated terms of reference document detailing the changes in the operation going forward.

1.4. To support the new Secretariat’s role, the approval is sought from the Assistant Director to transfer the membership, finance and digital assets that the GLA holds on behalf of Hydrogen London. To facilitate the transfer of financial assets to the new Secretariat, this decision seeks approval to hand over the remaining funds in the Hydrogen London budget generated by membership subscriptions, of £41,800.44, from the GLA to Intelligent Energy, who will act as the new Chair and source a new Secretariat for Hydrogen London.

1.5. The continuation of Hydrogen London aims to carry on bringing together the key stakeholders interested in achieving the aim of making London a world leader in fuel cells and hydrogen. It will continue to be a consortium of public sector including the government, industry, academia, and other stakeholders to take hydrogen fuel technology forward in London, to improve energy security, to reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and noise, and to support London’s green recovery and green economy.

2.1. The objective of this decision is to support the continuation of Hydrogen London and its aim to drive forward the uptake of hydrogen in London with the GLA’s participation in the Partnership. By supporting the continuation of Hydrogen London in line with the updated terms of reference, Hydrogen London will have its own Secretariat dedicated to support its activities and seek opportunities for implementing hydrogen in London. The GLA will end its role as the Secretariat for Hydrogen London but remain a member of the Partnership. The new role for the GLA in the Partnership will enable the GLA to work with members of Hydrogen London to identify potential projects to support Mayor commitments, such as the decarbonisation of the GLA Group’s buildings and vehicles that the Mayor is directly responsible.

3.1. The Mayor, GLA and TfL are subject to the “public sector equality duty” contained in s 149 of the Equality Act 2010. This duty requires each body to have due regard to three outcomes when exercising their functions: (1) the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; (2) to advance equality of opportunity between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not; and (3) to foster good relations between.

3.2. There is currently significant exposure of the London population to air pollution. Although this exposure is predicted to have declined significantly by 2020, current modelling results show that in 2020 there will still be more than 300,000 people living in locations with average NO2 levels above the EU legal limit value. In contrast, average concentrations of particles (PM10 and PM2.5) were, by 2010, already within EU Limit Values for the annual average concentrations.

3.3. Populations living in the most deprived areas are on average currently more exposed to poor air quality than those in less deprived areas. An independent report by Aether published by the GLA showed that those people living in the most deprived areas were on average exposed to 24% more nitrogen dioxide air pollution than those living in the least deprived areas.

3.4. The continuation of Hydrogen London is considered likely to be beneficial for groups with protected characteristics as it contributes towards identifying and implementing solutions for improving air quality in London. The Aether report showed that while everyone will benefit from improved air quality, those living in the most deprived areas would benefit the most on average.

a) Risks and issues

4.1. The risks of removing the Secretariat role from the GLA have been considered. These include no longer directly managing the membership, finance and digital assets for Hydrogen London. This lack of oversight could result in misuse of data and finances, and conflicts of interest arising between the GLA and other members of the Partnership with regards to the management of Hydrogen London. To mitigate these risks the GLA and members of Hydrogen London will agree an updated terms of reference that sets out the future management of Hydrogen London where conflicts of interest must be declared and managed on a case by case basis. Following approval of the decision set out in this document, the GLA and members of Hydrogen London will agree a contract that sets out the assets to be transferred to the new Secretariat and how the assets will be used.

4.2. To avoid data protection issues, the GLA sought permission from the members of Hydrogen London to transfer any member data from the GLA to the new Secretariat to support a streamlined continuation of Secretariat tasks.

b) Links to Mayoral Strategies and priorities

London Environment Strategy

4.3. The Mayor’s London Environment Strategy was published in May 2018 and prioritises reaching legal air pollutant levels as soon as possible by the most effective route through a number of proposals. These proposals include: aiming to reduce emissions by phasing out fossil fuels and switching to zero emission technologies in the TfL bus fleet, taxi and private hire fleet, and private and commercial vehicles; and working work with government and other partners to seek reductions in emissions from activities from aviation, London’s waterways, rail, construction and demolition, and buildings

Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

4.4. The Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy sets out how he will work to create a fairer, more equal, integrated city where all people feel welcome and able to fulfil their potential.

Strategic Objective 9 states:

“To work with boroughs, communities, transport providers and businesses to help regenerate the most deprived parts of London in a way that supports good growth and opens up opportunities for the most disadvantaged groups.”

Strategic Objective 11 states:

“To work with all relevant partners to ensure actions to improve levels of air quality and mitigate the effects of air pollution are informed by an understanding of the groups most likely to experience poor air quality.”

c) Impact assessment and consultations

4.5. The Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, the current Vice-Chair, and the members of Hydrogen London have been consulted before agreeing on the new terms of reference for Hydrogen London

d) Conflicts of interest

4.6. There are no known conflicts to declare regarding those involved in the drafting or clearance of this form.

5.1. Since 2002 the GLA has taken on the secretariat role of Hydrogen London – a partnership between public and private entities. Financially this entailed the collection of membership fees, managing income from EU HYLAW, undertaking relevant expenditure in relation to the programme of work and creating and maintaining the digital website.

5.2. As this secretariat role will be relinquished to Intelligent Energy this paper seeks permission to transfer all associated financial responsibilities too. As of 2020-21 this includes £41,800 of membership fees; which is contained within the Environment budget; and the upkeep of the Hydrogen London Website.