Mayor supports more than 200 London businesses in cutting energy use and carbon emissions

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has congratulated participants in his Business Climate Challenge (BCC) on significant progress towards their energy reduction targets, based on data through September 2023.

The BCC is an energy efficiency programme supporting businesses to reduce their energy consumption, to accelerate building decarbonisation efforts in London. Emissions from heating and powering London’s commercial and industrial buildings currently make up 36 per cent of the capital’s carbon footprint.

Decarbonising the city’s building stock is pivotal to reach the Mayor’s net zero target by 2030, and ensure a green and clean recovery from the pandemic. The programme provides free technical support to help make buildings more energy efficient, reduce energy costs and support businesses on their pathway to zero carbon.

The BCC also helps businesses improve their economic sustainability by identifying energy- and cost-saving measures that they can implement. This support has been particularly valued by small and mid-sized businesses, which comprise most of the BCC cohort, and which have been particularly hard-hit by the energy cost crisis since 2022.

New figures show that participating businesses that received tailored BCC workplace energy savings recommendations in the first quarter of 2023 reduced their energy use by an average of almost 9 per cent.

Nearly 150 representatives from BCC-supported businesses and programme partners attended a Celebration and Recognition Event at the British Library yesterday, where Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, congratulated the participants for their commitment and dedication to taking net zero action and the significant progress they have achieved through the programme so far.

In 2023, the voluntary programme has been supporting 216 London workplaces, who have pledged to reduce their workplace energy use by 10 per cent in one year, to identify and implement energy-saving strategies for reducing energy costs and cutting carbon emissions.

The BCC partnered with 9 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and Climate Change Alliances to engage and support cohorts of businesses in the programme. Among them, the Station to Station BID for West Norwood and Tulse Hill has seen the highest average energy savings, with businesses reducing energy use by 17% on average in the first nine months of 2023.

The programme has also supported 16 NHS GPs in the North Central and South East London Integrated Care Systems.

The successful programme has now seeded further projects, with four Business Climate Challenge programme partners working on UK Shared Prosperity Fund net zero programmes that will support an additional 285 businesses to reduce energy usage in Southwark, Camden and Brent in 2024-2025.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Using energy more efficiently saves businesses huge costs and help tackle the climate emergency. It’s great to see the swift progress businesses are making in reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions.

“I know businesses in London are keen to implement more effective energy-saving strategies, and the Business Climate Challenge gives them the resources to understand their energy use and devise a tailored programme suitable for each business.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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