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Businesses in London could soon be invited to be involved
in flagship low-carbon zones, designed to showcase the technologies
that will be required to meet the London mayor's ambitious
carbon reduction targets.
Speaking at Prince Charles' May Day Summit recently, Boris
Johnson said that the London Development Agency (LDA)
would provide £3m for 10 zones, with each zone receiving at
least £200,000. He added that the LDA would also be seeking
additional funding for the zones from third-party investors.
The zones will have to commit to delivering emission reductions
of at least 12 per cent by 2012 and are expected to include
initiatives to roll-out insulation and smart meters across
commercial and residential properties.
They will also have to make proposals for small and community
scale renewable energy technologies - such as rooftop solar
panels or decentralised biomass heat and power plants.
A spokeswoman for the mayor's office said details of the
zones were yet to be decided, as the LDA is inviting applications
for funding from London boroughs until the end of July. Under
the rules of the application process, each zone must cover
at least one street, but can contain no more than 1,000 buildings.
Johnson said that he intended them to be "an armada of flagships"
across London, providing boroughs, businesses and households
with working examples of how they can cost-effectively cut
carbon emissions.
The Green Party's Darren Johnson welcomed the proposals,
but warned that they were seriously underfunded. "Given that
it takes an estimated £11,000 for a home to achieve the 80
per cent cut in emissions needed, it is very disappointing
that the mayor is only offering £3m" - he said. "Unless much
more is invested, only about 280 London homes will be made
truly carbon friendly."
Meanwhile, the mayor has announced plans to expand his street
tree-planting programme with new trees on 40 tree-free streets
and the launch of a new website that allows Londoners to request
that a tree is planted outside their home.
The mayor's office said that plans to plant 10,000 new street
trees across the capital will deliver significant environmental
benefits, including improved air quality, flood protection
and resilience from heatwaves.
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