#LCAW2024 highlight: The City of London may remain at the top of the global green finance index, but there is “no room for complacency,” cautioned Alderwoman Alison Gowman CBE on the panel ‘Can London Still be a centre for the net zero economy?’ kicking off the Fleet Street Quarter Climate Festival this week. With a general election around the corner, we are still lacking strong political leadership on net zero and have seen a series of row-backs on the topic, despite the fact the UK is way off-target, with emissions over the last decade flatlining across transport, industry, homes and agriculture. It’s hardly surprising that trust in net zero is very low (not one hand went up in the audience when asked if they believed Britain would reach net zero by 2050!)
London has multiple challenges to remain ahead of the Race to Zero. As the high profile panel – which included Tessa F. (from the UN Race to Zero team), Gavin Starks, founder of Icebreaker One and Matilda Becker (Oxford Net Zero) – discussed, the city has a substantial green skills gap (especially in green construction and energy) that needs to be plugged with education and training opportunities. And it’s a sobering fact that 90% of businesses in the square mile are SMEs and yet they’re massively struggling to cope with the emissions reporting burden. Gavin Starks pointed to a major fault line on the road to zero: everyone has been focusing on Scopes 1 and 2 when 80% of most SMEs' emissions are in their supply chain – so why aren’t we tackling Scope 3 first?
Tessa F. made the point that we’re not going to reach net zero if we’re not nature positive as well. We need to triple investment in nature by 2030. It was encouraging to hear that The City is working on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) with various taskforces including adaptation finance but there is still a mountain to climb in this regard and it’s not helpful that not one major political party included nature protection in its manifesto.
Matilda Becker said we need wholesale systems change and we need it fast. She cited recent (PwC) research that shows 45% of CEOs do not believe their business will be viable in a decade without reinvention – due in large part to the climate trajectory. Or as Gavin Starks put it, “There is no business-as-usual way of getting to net zero and if we don’t do it, the amount of disruption is going to be huge. The nature of exponential change is going to be fast.” So while net zero wasn’t exactly flavour of the month at London Climate Action Week this year, the need for “fundamental systems change,” “a new vision for the future” and “regenerative mindsets” certainly was. Let’s hope London can create that blueprint for a more hopeful, sustainable future. Hats off to Fleet Street Quarter for keeping net zero at the top of the agenda...
📣🌍 The Fleet Street Quarter Climate Festival is underway, day one has seen fascinating discussions on a range of topics with a key focus on ‘creating a blueprint for a sustainable future’.
👉 Due to an exceptional demand for tickets, we are delighted to be able to make more spaces available on all day two talks. So if you missed out first time around there now another chance to book!
🎟️ All events are available to book for free here: https://lnkd.in/gmRMyfz4
💡 Across two days the Fleet Street Quarter Climate Festival will bring together more than 20 senior leaders in the sustainability, property, finance, media and legal sectors, from across the Fleet Street Quarter area and beyond to share their insights and opinions on some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing business as it seeks to forge a plan for delivering a decarbonised model for the future.
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2moOmbligo, Inc. might have "missed the boat" (event) but Ombligo, Inc. has been "onboard" with building a business in NYC that plays an integral part of the Green Economy. Ombligo, Inc. helps companies maximize value and minimize data security and environmental risks from their used and out-of-service IT hardware.