Questions to the Mayor of London – answered at on 17 March 2021.
How much will it cost to make London Carbon Neutral by 2030?
My Zero Carbon London 1.5 Compatible Plan estimates the infrastructure costs are £61bn to deliver net zero by 2050. Mayoral Strategies already include a number of policies and programmes working to achieve faster action by 2030 including lobbying asks of government.
The Committee on Climate Change estimates the annualised resource cost of net zero is now less than 1% of GDP a year to 2050. Investing now will unlock substantial savings in carbon and operating costs much earlier, as cleaner, more-efficient technologies replace their fossil fuelled predecessors.
With the powers at my disposal I have made it clear that I can deliver around half the actions needed to meet a net zero target. However, the Government is responsible for the other 50%.
A green recovery is the perfect opportunity for the government to accelerate its own efforts while creating economic growth and job opportunities. However, sadly the UK’s green stimulus package falls well short of other leading nations such as Germany and France.