How to save £300... and the world

5:55am Wednesday 28th February 2007

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PLANS to slash London's carbon emissions by 60% in 20 years - twice as fast as government targets - have been announced by mayor Ken Livingstone.

The new Climate Change Action Plan aims to make London the greenest city in the world by fighting gas guzzlers, poorly insulated buildings and non-renewable energy.

Almost £80 million will be spent over the next three years on proposals set out in the 232-page document unveiled yesterday. Measures include:

• Heavily subsidised home insulation could save each London household £300 a year in power bills.

• London's entire fleet of 8,000 buses will be replaced by diesel-electric hybrid vehicles.

• If businesses turned off their lights and computers at night, and made their buildings more energy efficient, they would save 20% of their electricity bills.

• A quarter of all of London's energy will come from smaller local renewable sources, such as solar panels and mini wind turbines. Currently two thirds of energy produced at central power stations is being lost in transmission.

• Money will also be invested in developing large-scale renewable energy suppliers. If all the waste that currently goes to landfill were used to create energy through new high-tech methods, it could provide electricity for two million homes. Wind farms in London and the Thames Estuary could supply a million homes.

The UK is the world's eighth largest CO2 emitter, and London produces 8% - or 44 million tonnes a year - of the country's emissions. Without action, the city's emissions will rise to 51 million tonnes by 2025, the plan warns.

Homes are responsible for nearly 40% of the CO2, followed by businesses (33%) and transport (22%).

The mayor's plan would cut London's emissions by 20 million tonnes a year.

However, Mr Livingstone said a further reduction of 13 million tonnes would only be possible with government action. He called for a carbon tax to encourage green spending. If this is introduced, London would produce just 11 million tonnes of CO2 by 2025.

"When scientists talk of the threat of catastrophic climate change they don't just mean the inconvenience of extra flooding or the Tube being unbearably hot in summer," Mr Livingstone said.

"If no action is taken to cut carbon emissions we face temperature rises of over five degrees towards the end of this century. It took a temperature drop of just five degrees to cause the last ice-age, so the impact of a temperature increase of the same level would be profound."

Green campaigners welcomed the mayor's proposals. "This action plan cannot be implemented too soon," said Green Party speaker Sian Berry.

"We are one of the most vulnerable cities to the effects of climate change. In the past six years, the Thames Barrier, built to defend London from flooding, has been raised a staggering 56 times, compared with just three times in first six years after in was built in the 1980s."

Ministers talked about cutting emissions, but were "unwilling to confront the vested interests" in the power, building, aviation and motor industries, Greenpeace director John Sauven added.

"The government must now follow the mayor's lead," said Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper.

Everyone must take responsibility, Mr Livingstone said. "Buying a gas-guzzling 4x4 vehicle is an 'individual choice' but it creates carbon emissions that contribute to global warming and harm everyone. It should be no more sociably acceptable than to claim the right to dump rubbish in the street.

"The simple message is this: to tackle climate change you do not have to reduce your quality of life, but you do have to change the way you live."

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Go energy efficient: If every light bulb and appliance in every London home were energy efficient, it would save almost £300 million in electricity bills and 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 a year.

• Bus... or bike: If you switch from driving to work to taking the bus, you will save 0.6 tonnes of carbon per year. Taking up cycling instead would increase these savings to 1.1 tonnes.

• Eco drive: Road emissions would fall by 30% if people simply bought the most fuel-efficient version of the car they want. Sensible driving such as smooth acceleration and braking can cut fuel use by up to 10%.

• Ditch the cheap flights: Aviation accounts for 7% of Britain's emissions. Flights increase by 7% a year, and 85% of that growth is due to leisure trips. Just 10% of people (mostly better off) take half of all the flights.