Mayor will set out a plan to retrofit London’s buildings

The Mayor of London will set out a plan on how to insulate the capital’s homes and buildings at the London Greener and Warmer Buildings Summit.  

The aim of the summit is to highlight the importance and benefits of retrofitting and refurbishing buildings to make them more efficient and better for the environment.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), London First, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Federation of Small Business (FSB), and New London Architecture (NLA) will join the Mayor and London Councils at the summit in a ‘call to action’ to London’s businesses to decarbonise existing buildings.

The Mayor has already set out plans to make the city net zero carbon by 2030 and with London’s buildings responsible for two-thirds of the capital’s carbon emissions; retrofitting homes is a key part of efforts in London to tackle the climate emergency.

Earlier this month, the London boroughs published their action plan for retrofitting London’s 3.5 million homes, which set out a shared set of principles and actions to galvanise collective action among the boroughs to support retrofit across all housing tenures. The summit is expected to expand on these plans. 

The boroughs, working with other Core Cities across the United Kingdom, have already initiated the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission to try and leverage widescale private investment into green initiatives, including retrofit.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: ‘Our homes are the greatest contributor to London’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the economic impacts of the pandemic and rising energy prices are likely to plunge even more Londoners into fuel poverty.

‘That’s why I’m pleased to bring together business leaders and local government to discuss the importance of insulating homes and buildings which can both tackle the climate emergency and cost-of-living crisis.

‘Businesses must act now to meet this standard and act on them as soon as possible, and work with us to accelerate decarbonization of London’s commercial buildings. To help, I’m expanding my Business Climate Challenge to support more businesses on the pathway to net-zero.’