Climate and the city: London

In the 21st century the impact of climate change on human society will only increase. At the moment almost 50 per cent of the Earth’s inhabitants live in cities, a percentage that is estimated to rise to 60 per cent by 2030. With more and more people living in cities many of the impacts of climate change will be mediated through the experiences and actions of these urban dwellers.

So, the relationships and interactions between climate change and cities will be of vital importance to the future well being of the human population during this century. It is useful to think about climate change in terms of how it relates to cities for three main reasons:

•over 75% of energy consumption is directly related to cities;
•in many cases cities are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change;
•cities have a great potential to instigate innovative solutions to the impacts of climate change.

Cities occupy a pivotal position, as major energy consumers, but also as centres of innovation and new thinking. International links can be built between cities, even when states cannot agree. Here we take the example of London to show how a city consumes energy, the possible impacts of climate change on London, and how it might adapt to these impacts.

How London consumes energy

London’s ecological footprint
London, a city of around 7.4 million people, consumes more energy than Ireland and about the same as Greece or Portugal. The modern city could not function without vast quantities of electricity to power everything from light and heat to transportation and electronic equipment and machinery.

London’s ecological footprint (the equivalent geographical area taken up by the city to supply all energy and resources consumed) is 293 times the geographical area of the city: that’s roughly twice the size of the whole of the UK which has a population of around 60 million!  

Transportation
Londoners travelled over 64 billion passenger kilometres in 2000, which can mostly be attributed to cars and vans (44 billion). Carbon dioxide emissions from cars and vans totalled 8.9 million tonnes.

London suffers the worst traffic congestion in the UK and amongst the worst in Europe. To try to reduce this the Congestion Charge was introduced to ensure that those using the city’s roads at peak times make a financial contribution – currently £5 per day – and to encourage alternative means of transport in central London. By law all the money raised by the charge is spent on London’s transport facilities. The scheme has surprised many by being successful in reducing traffic flow, increasing use of public transport as well as having reasonable level of public acceptance.

There are now plans to copy the idea in other UK cities. However, when the city of Edinburgh recently asked its residents whether the city should introduce a congestion charge almost three quarters of them voted against the proposal so Londoners may be alone in accepting the idea of charges.

Buildings
In a western city such as London the efficiency of energy use in buildings is generally quite poor. It is now becoming technically possible to build commercially viable zero-emission buildings. However, in London many of the houses are quite old and so there is a huge challenge to be faced in trying to either replace houses or install more energy efficient solutions. For example, through the Solar for London initiative, Londoners can apply for grants to help them install solar powered water heating systems.

Other sources
Some of the total emissions related to the activities of Londoners occur outside of the city in other parts of the UK or even others parts of the world. These include emissions associated with the production of goods, such as food, clothing and other merchandise, and transportation of goods and people to (and from) the city.

From the amount of energy London consumes its very likely that the impacts of climate change will have a big effect on the city. Read about what these are probably going to be.