Westminster City Council is calling on all commercial landlords and occupiers in the borough to commit to a new framework to drive down carbon emissions.
London’s first Sustainable City Charter has been launched today (16 November) in partnership with Westminster Property Association and is targeted at offices, shops, hotels, restaurants, museums and theatres. This includes 11,000 listed buildings.
It sets out practical recommendations such as carrying out energy use assessments and adopting green leases at renewal.
Matt Noble, cabinet member for climate action, regeneration and renters at Westminster, said signatories would be able to tap into a toolkit of advice and guidance.
The programme is already supported by business groups including New West End Company and there is now a call for individual businesses to sign up. Any organisation, including non-profit, which owns, manages or occupies one or more non-domestic buildings in Westminster can join the initiative. They must share their baseline emissions and commit to providing annual progress updates.
Paul Williams, chair of Westminster Property Association and chief executive of Derwent London, said businesses needed to “move faster and be bolder” to ensure Westminster reaches its target to become a net-zero city by 2040. “The Sustainable City Charter will play a pivotal role in helping us to achieve this goal,” he said. The built environment accounts for approximately 70% of Westminster’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The key recommendations for signatories include:
- Undertake energy use assessments of their buildings in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders. Audits should be undertaken within two years of signing up to the charter, and at three-year intervals after that.
- Deliver energy efficiency improvements through installation of renewables, switching to electric heating and cooking or buying green electricity.
- Demonstrate a clear plan for sustainable procurement, including higher priority for local suppliers to reduce transport emissions.
- Enable and incentivise modes of active travel, including provision of shower facilities and cycle-to-work schemes, and commit to replace all diesel/petrol/hybrid vehicles with zero-emission vehicles by 2040.
- Consolidate waste collection in collaboration with other local stakeholders and commit to a clear waste reduction plan.
- Adopt green leases at renewal or change of occupancy which formalise measures undertaken to reduce energy consumption and waste.
Click here to find out more about the charter and to download it.
To send feedback, e-mail julia.cahill@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGJuliaC or @EGPropertyNews
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