About the LCCA
London Climate Change Agency
Overview
Vision and Mission
Structure and supporters
The London ESCO
Better Buildings Partnership
Water, waste and transport projects
GLA group leading by example
Economic benefits
Overview
The London Climate Change Agency has been set up to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from London. It is a commercial company wholly owned, controlled by and housed in the London Development Agency. The work of the LCCA is a key part of the London's commitment to become a sustainable world city.
The objective of the LCCA is to deliver projects that reduce greenhouse gas – mainly carbon dioxide - emissions from London. The LCCA plays a key role in delivering the London's Climate Change Action Plan, especially the target of reducing carbon dioxide CO2 emissions reductions by 20% relative to 1990 levels by 2016, as the crucial first step on the path to acheiving reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 60% relative to 1990 levels by 2025.
Climate change
Climate change is the most serious long term challenge facing the world today. According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, temperatures could rise by 1.4-5.8 degrees C by the end of the century, resulting in sea level rise, changes in established climate patterns, and more intense weather events.
Flooding and droughts will become more common, both in the developing world, but also in the UK. In London, the city and its infrastructure are potentially vulnerable to climate change and the London Climate Change Partnership has been established to help prepare for the expected changes.
Man-made climate change is driven by the emitting into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases – especially carbon dioxide. There is now an urgent need to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions, and the London Plan states that London’s emissions should fall by 30% by 2025 from a 1990 baseline.
The majority of London’s emissions – about 70% - come from energy use in heating, cooling and powering buildings. The LCCA will help to create a new, low-carbon, energy infrastructure for homes and businesses.
Some of this energy will come from renewable energy technologies, such as solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind power. However, most of the energy will be produced in units that provide combined heat and power (CHP). The heat can also be used to provide low carbon cooling in the summertime, displacing conventional air-conditioning. Air conditioning has a particularly marked environmental impact, as it not only uses a lot of electricity, but also uses refrigerants that have a high global warming potential.
Producing heat, power and cooling from one source is sometimes called 'trigeneration'. Initially, LCCA trigeneration schemes will use natural gas as a fuel, but in the future this will be replaced by renewable hydrogen, which has no emissions at all except 100% pure water.
LCCA schemes will deliver power through private wire. Such systems can operate in island generation mode in the event of a failure of the grid.
In addition to offering lower emissions, local trigeneration has a number of other advantages, including a more secure supply of electricity and a means of tackling fuel poverty.
The LCCA is a limited company, wholly owned and controlled by the London Development Agency, the regional development agency for Greater London.
In November 2004, Allan Jones MBE was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for the London Climate Change Agency.
In its initial phase, the LCCA is being supported by a number of Founders. These are:
BP
Lafarge
Legal and General
Sir Robert McAlpine
Johnson Matthey
The Corporation of London
The Carbon Trust
The Energy Saving Trust
KPMG and The Carbon Trust have provided secondments to the LCCA and the LCCA has also benefited from a short term secondment from Greenpeace.
To deliver projects on the ground, the LCCA has formed an energy services company for London, or London ESCO. An energy services company doesn’t just sell gas or electricity, but rather offers clients the end services they want – such as light, heat, cooling, and power via decentralised energy. The ESCO will design, finance, build and operate decentralised energy systems, while still being competitive with conventional energy sources.
The London ESCO Ltd is a joint venture company between the LCCA Ltd and EDF Energy, one of Europe’s largest energy suppliers, and the owner of London Energy. The London ESCO offers competitive, low carbon energy solutions to developers and building owners/occupiers. These solutions will provide homes and businesses in new and existing developments and regeneration areas across London with secure, low-cost energy services at a much lower environmental impact than conventional supply.
As a part owner of the London ESCO, the LCCA's return on investment will be recycled into renewable energy, sustainable energy and hydrogen projects, accelerating the take up and commercialisation of such technologies.
The LCCA has initiated a programme to enable sustainable retrofit of London's largest commercial buildings, working with leading commercial property owners and tenants in the Better Buildings Partnership. The partnership will develop solutions in the areas of Tenant and Landlord partnerships, Green Leases, Sustainability benchmarks, Best practice in building performance and retrofit and Engaging property agents.
Water, waste and transport projects
In addition to straightforward energy projects, the LCCA will also develop projects in related areas. Technologies such as anaerobic digestion, gasification and pyrolosis offer the possibility of producing not only renewable gases from municipal, industrial, commercial, sewage and biomass waste that cannot be recycled, but also the prospect of renewable hydrogen. This in turn can be used to run London’s buses and other vehicles, completing a cycle that links energy with water, waste and transport
Again, the LCCA will develop these projects through an ESCO approach, creating special purpose companies where necessary.
The Mayor wants London government to lead by example, including the bodies that deliver key services in the city, such as Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police, and the London Fire Brigade. The LCCA will work closely with these bodies to maximize investment in energy savings and in renewable energy. The LCCA is currently running a programme of Flagship Renewable Energy projects with the GLA group, that include PV roofs on City Hall and the London Transport Museum. The LCCA will also be working to make the vehicle fleets of the GLA Group more sustainable.
The LCCA, along with the London Development Agency, is housed in Palestra in Southwark, and has installed both a solar PV array and 14 micro-wind turbines on the roof to provide renewable energy for its operations.
Sustainable energy in London could be a £3.35 billion market by 2010. The work of the LCCA will help deliver significant economic development through inward investment, as London takes first mover advantage, and the practical ability to implement low and zero carbon technologies at scale. Thousands of jobs could be created.
At the heart of the LCCA's approach is a holistic approach to tackling climate change and sustainable development. The aim is to achieve a sustainable and self sufficient London, making maximum use of renewable resources within the city.
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Allan Jones MBE - Chief Executive Officer of the London Climate Change Agency Ltd.