Vote for Ken on May 1st

Ken, Greenpeace CEO & Annie Lennox

The race for Mayor of London is very close. Why is it so important? Because whoever wins gets to be chief executive of the world’s No 1 capital city.

Why is it important to this web site? Because despite the blizzard of eco-promises from all parties, current Mayor Ken Livingstone is the only candidate who has said he wants to “take London off-grid.” And that is merely his latest announcement in a packed eco-agenda. Livingstone has announced a raft of measures to curb the capital’s carbon emissions by 60% over the next 20 years.

Livingstone, a 62-year-old socialist nicknamed “Red Ken,” met with supporters and voters today near the stadium of east London soccer team West Ham United. Yesterday, he was ferried to campaign stops in west London in a Toyota Prius, a low-pollution gasoline-electric car that fits with his emphasis on combating climate change. If elected, he plans to triple the daily congestion charge to 25 pounds on drivers of the most-polluting vehicles, starting in October.

In his first two terms, Livingstone expanded the police force and bus network and helped to win the 2012 Olympics for the city. He told voters this week that he is best qualified to oversee the 39 billion pounds in transportation investment planned for the city.

The election, he said today, is about his “commitment to London, as opposed to Boris Johnson’s incompetence.”

The GLA will prioritise £78 million over the next three years to implement the measures, which constitute a comprehensive approach to reducing emissions across the capital from domestic and commercial buildings, to transport and energy generation.

The plan includes measures to:

• Reduce annual domestic carbon emissions by 7.7 tonnes by 2025 through the Green Homes Programme. Households across the city will be offered cut-price loft and cavity wall insulation.

• To tackle commercial emissions through the Green Organisations Programme through reduced energy waste-age and improvements in the energy efficiency of commercial buildings.

• To fundamentally change how the city’s energy is generated and supplied. The Green Energy programme sets a target to move a quarter of London’s energy supply off the National Grid and on to more efficient local energy systems by 2025

• To cut the city’s annual transport emissions by 4.3 million tonnes through the Green Transport Programme.

Livingstone hopes the comprehensive package of measures will place London at the forefront in the battle against climate change. But do the experts agree?

One big achievement though has been getting organisations to attend to their own carbon footprint. The emphasis on accountability is really impressive and challenging the existing stock is really important.

And his action plan is just what’s called for. The targets aren’t impossible, they’re achievable. It’s good for London and it’s good for the mayor as a branding exercise for London.

Livingstone is driving national policy by raising it at a local level. It’s important to see a political leader grabbing the problem of carbon emissions and taking it by the horns.

London is the only place now were you can do this sort of joined up thinking. There are so many barriers to taking a holistic approach, but Livingston has the powers to do it.

The idea of off-grid energy is also really good. Yet again Livingstone is showing the way, where central government is failing.

There’s going to be an issue about reaching the governments targets for zero carbon homes. They all rely on biomas and yet there’s not enough biomas to go round. Livingstone hasn’t been specific, but it does seem that all these solutions rely on biomas. People haven’t thought this through yet. And that’s the role of government. We can do so much but rest is down to national coordination and central government is still not gripping this.

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