No Evidence That London Plan's Climate Target Will Be Met

Friends of the Earth welcomes target, but...

The London Plan is important for London and Londoners.  It determines to a great extent how London will develop and grow over the next 20 years. Planning policies and therefore individual planning decisions are much affected by what the London Plan says.  See http://www.london.gov.uk/thelondonplan/

West London Friends of the Earth has submitted a statement on climate change for the Examination in Public (EiP) of The London Plan. A draft for consultation was issued back in October 2009 and an ‘Examination in Public’ (EiP) starts this July.  An EiP is like a Public Inquiry but less formal.

Following receipt of thousands of comments on the draft, a selection of respondents have been invited to appear at the EiP.  Friends of the Earth is appearing on Thursday 15th July in the section on climate change (as well as on other topics).  Parties appearing have submitted written statements of their case.

The Plan says “The Mayor seeks to achieve an overall reduction in London’s carbon dioxide emissions of 60 per cent (below 1990 levels) by 2025.”

Nic Ferriday, spokesperson for West London Friends of the Earth, said “We welcome mayor Boris Johnson’s target to cut CO2 emissions by 60% by 2025 and we are pleased that he has not gone back on the target of his predecessor, Ken Livingstone.  This scale of cut is needed if the UK is to achieve its target of 80% cuts by 2050 (this target was stated in The Climate Change Act, passed in 2009).”

Although the target is welcome, there is no evidence that the Plan will actually achieve the target.  Nic Ferriday commented “While there are lot of good intentions and ideas in the Plan for reducing emissions, hard policies are missing and there is a complete lack of quantification.  Without these, we can have no confidence that the target will be met.”      

West London Friends of the Earth said in its introduction “We support the ambitious but achievable target.  Climate change is, quite simply, the most important issue on earth.  If the issue of climate change is not addressed, all of the social, economic and many of the environmental objectives of the London Plan will ultimately fail.  London, if it seeks to be a truly world class city, should be in the vanguard of action on climate change.”      

June 10, 2010