- Sadiq will deliver a keynote speech at COP26 alongside Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon
- The Mayor of London and the First Minister will attend a green finance summit, showcasing investment opportunities in both London and Scotland
- The Mayor will commit more than £30 million to the Mayor’s Energy Efficiency Fund (MEEF) which will help unlock around £150 million of investment in low carbon projects
- London’s Mayor and Scotland’s First Minister will unite to call for a just transition to a zero carbon economy that provides jobs and addresses inequalities
In a keynote speech at COP26, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan will commit more than £30 million to the Mayor’s Energy Efficiency Fund (MEEF) over the next two years to support projects that further his aim of making London net zero by 2030. This new investment means the fund could secure over £500 million of finance in its five years of operation. Projects will deliver new low carbon technology to upgrade existing buildings through interventions such as retrofitting and installing heat pumps and supporting clean transport through the provisions of electric vehicle charging hubs.
The funds will also help tackle inequalities exposed and exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. London has some of the highest levels of fuel poverty in the country with one in nine* London households unable to meet the cost of heating their homes. MEEF’s energy efficiency and low-carbon heat projects help reduce energy bills and improve living conditions for thousands of Londoners. They will also support Londoners with the skills they need for jobs in the green economy, rebuilding the capital post-COVID so that it’s cleaner, greener and fairer.
Joined by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, at the opening session of a Green Investment Showcase, Sadiq will make the case for backing green investment opportunities in London and Scotland. The Mayor has been clear that public sector finances alone will not mobilise the investment required to achieve his targets of net zero by 2030 but MEEF demonstrates how London can accelerate climate action through a combination of public and private sector capital investment. Latest estimates show that upgrading London’s infrastructure to make it zero carbon could cost £100bn, with interventions including:
- retrofitting buildings with energy efficiency measures
- heat pumps
- delivering a zero emission vehicle fleet
The commitments made will unlock up to £150 million of private investment, and support 73,000 jobs in green industries in 2030. Since its launch in July 2018, MEEF has provided investment to public authorities and the private sector, mobilising over £310 million of capital and reducing London’s CO2 emissions by more than 12,650 tonnes, which is equivalent to taking 14,200 cars off the road, or the energy consumption of 2,311 households.
London and Scotland share the same ambition to accelerate climate action, with Scotland committed to achieving net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the UK target. While the primary purpose of London’s investment is tackling air pollution and carbon emissions in the capital, it will also help grow local economies across the UK, working together across regions to invest in new, cleaner technologies and helping to tackle the climate emergency.
London already has the largest electric bus fleet in Europe with over 500 buses and the Mayor has committed to only purchasing new zero emission buses, with a target set to make the entire fleet zero emission by 2034. Upgrading London’s buses will generate substantial orders for buses in locations nationwide including Falkirk, Ballymena, Scarborough, and Yorkshire. This investment will represent a gross investment into UK bus manufacturing of £4 billion. London’s ongoing investment in electric vehicles is tackling the twin dangers of air pollution and climate change. This supports the Mayor’s wider target of decarbonising the transport network and achieving a zero carbon London by 2030. London now has over a third of the UK’s total charge points.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “COP26 is a landmark moment in the battle against climate change. We must take bold action now or face dire consequences - with catastrophic impacts on our environment, the climate and the air we breathe – further down the line. In London, we are determined to play our part.
“That is why I’ve committed to making London net zero by 2030, faster than any other comparable city, and it’s why we are delivering a climate action plan that is compatible with the highest ambitions of the Paris Agreement. I also want London to be a zero-pollution city and have expanded our Ultra Low Emission Zone to cover all of inner London so that far fewer children have to grow up breathing toxic air.
“I have been clear that climate action and our economic recovery must go hand in hand. This will require record investment and coordinated action from everyone - cities, businesses, national governments and communities - to truly turn the tide. That is why I am leading the way by committing more than £30 million to help unlock up to £150 million of private investment in low carbon projects and create the green jobs that will help make our target of a zero-carbon capital a reality by the end of this decade.”
The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said: “COP26 provides what is possibly our best chance to advance the societal and economic change that is demanded by the climate emergency, delivering lasting action towards net zero and a climate-resilient future.
“By grasping the opportunities provided by green industries and supply chains, we can create the good green jobs of the future and secure a just transition away from fossil fuels.
“The role of private capital is fundamental to achieving this and governments must do what they can to channel investment into areas supporting transformational change.
“Through our Green Investment Portfolio, which is already valued at £2 billion, the Scottish Government highlights a range of exciting, commercially assessed investment propositions to investors and showcases businesses in Scotland as world leaders in innovative green industries of the future.”
Jo Patrick, Director of MEEF, Amber Infrastructure: “We are delighted that MEEF’s ongoing success has been recognised by the GLA with this further commitment from the Mayor of London into MEEF, strengthening the partnership between us. This will ensure MEEF can fund its exciting pipeline of projects including e-mobility, energy efficiency and decentralised energy which will support London’s move to its net zero target by 2030, whilst assisting SMEs and the public sector in their green growth.”
Notes to editors
*BEIS Fuel Poverty Statistics 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics
London was one of the first cities in the world to publish a climate plan compatible with the highest ambition of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperatures below 1.5C of warming. The plan has underpinned Sadiq’s ambitious work to make London a zero carbon city, including delivering the Ultra Low Emission Zone, making London’s buildings net zero, electrifying buses and taxis, divesting pension funds from fossil fuels and scaling up solar energy across the capital. Following his declaration of a climate emergency, Sadiq has brought London’s Net Zero Carbon target forward to 2030, to accelerate the solutions and minimise the most devastating impacts of a changing climate.
ABOUT MEEF
MEEF provides a mixture of senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity to London’s public-sector property owners and small-to-medium-sized businesses, including but not exclusively, Local Authorities, NHS Trusts, Registered Providers, Higher and Further Education organisations, Charities and Voluntary Organisations, ESCOs and SMEs. MEEF can fund both up to 100 per cent of the capital cost of a project and part-fund large-scale regeneration projects which demonstrate low-carbon credentials.
The project has received up to £51.2 million of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. The ERDF programme continues until 2023/24. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
Projects previously supported include:
Zenobe Energy - installing electric charging infrastructure and battery energy storage for buses, at the Walworth bus depot, south London. Enabling two more London bus routes to go electric.
London Borough of Southwark for installing water source heat pumps to over 2,000 homes in the borough
London Borough of Enfield to part-finance the construction of its Meridian Water Heat Network which will supply over 10,000 new homes with low carbon energy.
- Colt Cabs – financing for 30 more iconic London black cabs that are zero emission.
Zeti is a London fintech SME who arranged the finance for the investment in Colt and are using an innovative patent-pending pay-per-mile financing platform for zero and ultra-low emission transport.
ABOUT AMBER INFRASTRUCTURE GROUP
Amber Infrastructure (‘Amber’) is a specialist international investment manager, focused on investment origination, asset management and fund management. Amber’s core business focuses on sourcing, developing, advising, investing in and managing infrastructure assets across the public, transport, energy, digital and demographic infrastructure sectors that support the lives of people, homes and businesses internationally.
Amber is headquartered in London with offices in Europe, North America and Australia and employs over 150 infrastructure professionals.