London Climate Action Week 2024: Delivering a Net Zero and Resilient London and UK

Nick Mabey, Co-CEO and Founder, E3G, explores each of the #LCAW2024 themes in a series of posts highlighting the climate action context and related events from across the week. London Climate Action Week takes place 22-30 June 2024.

LCAW 2024 is - rather surprisingly - happening just before a UK General Election, where for the first time the net zero transition has become a dividing line between major political parties.

While the election has lowered the participation of UK political figures at LCAW, it won’t stop the intense debates – especially from leading businesses and decision makers - over the big challenges the UK faces in delivering its net zero 2050 target. Despite being on track to close its last coal fired power station this year, the UK has a large policy gap in its net zero delivery plan and an urgent need to ramp up investment in renewables, energy efficiency, grids and resilience.

This gap is examined in new research launched at LCAW and will be the focus of major events like the PRI Investment Summit and IIGCC Net Zero Summit. Sectoral events will look at scaling-up investment in energy, tackling building efficiency, clean heating and energy poverty, and investing in resilience and nature-based solutions. There will also be a focus on improving women’s representation in clean investment and energy transitions.

At the same time the UK is falling behind in the race to capture growing clean technology markets, despite its vibrant and wide-ranging clean technology and innovation sectors. Policy uncertainty and generous subsidies in major competitors are making it harder for the UK to attract the investment in manufacturing and supply chains it needs.

These challenges and market opportunities will be examined at Moody’s Summit on European clean tech leadership and by business and policy leaders at the Climate Innovation Forum and Reset Connect.

London has the largest concentration of climate professionals in the world, over 250,000 mostly working globally, and a highly ambitious net zero target for 2030. The London Mayor leads the C40 cities coalition and hosts global debates on urban pollution and decarbonisation. London can be a unique motor for UK decarbonisation and competitiveness, but too often political debates assume there is a zero-sum game between the capital and other parts of the country.

With a re-elected Mayor, and the prospect of a new national government, there is an opportunity to reset this relationship, harnessing London as a driver of national clean transition and economic success. Building on London’s clean tech, venture capital and start-up communities, including how to apply AI to climate solutions. Using the strength of London’s innovative university sector such as Imperial’s Undaunted Innovation Hub and the wider UK Universities Climate Network, and starting from the building blocks of London’s schools.

London’s world leading sectors of finance, insurance, technical services and clean innovation can actively support the solutions, investment and skills needed for the UK and London’s net zero transition. A key focus must be the buildings, transport and construction sectors which dominate London’s remaining emissions, and better manage London’s consumption footprint, highlighted in new data launched at LCAW.

London’s rapid transition can help produce the zero emission solutions and businesses for the rest of the UK and develop vibrant export sectors in goods, services and innovation. Achieving these positive synergies will involve much greater alignment and coordination between the different parts of the London ‘Climate Cluster’ and the rest of the UK. This challenge will be the focus of the first London Climate Action Week Gala Dinner which will bring together leading London stakeholders to discuss how to move further and faster on the climate transition.