17 January 2024
Today the London Climate Resilience Review published their interim report into London’s preparedness for the impacts of climate change, highlighting a number of strategic, priority recommendations for the mayor and national government.
The independent Review was commissioned by the Mayor of London and chaired by Emma Howard Boyd, former chair of the Environment Agency and now chair of the Green Finance Institute. It was launched in June 2023 and has been engaging widely with stakeholders across London to hear about the impacts and actions taken and now needed to adapt to a changing climate.
The Review is much needed. Despite significant and in some cases pioneering action in London the impacts of a changing climate are accelerating. We can see the global impacts of extreme weather almost daily but impacts are also felt in London. In 2021 devastating floods hit the capital with disruption to homes, schools, businesses and the public transport network. In 2022 a record breaking 40C heatwave schools were closed, hospital operations were cancelled and wildfires caused devastation in Essex.
These impacts are not felt equally across our communities, with those living in poverty at far greater risk due to poor housing, lack of acess to green infrastructure, or with underlying health conditions and with other intersecting factors such as age, race or gender which can add to vulnerability.
The LCCP and our individual partners have had signficant engagement with the Review – submitting evidence and hosting a number of roundtables as well as acting in an advisory capacity to the chair and team. We stand ready to play our part in implementing the recommendations of this interim report and look forward to seeing the full report when it is finalised later this year.