Livingstone: London Will Be ‘World Leader’ in Climate Change Battle
London will aim to become the world’s leading centre for research and financial development on climate change over the next five years according to Mayor Ken Livingstone.
Attending the World Economic Forum in Davos the Mayor said he wanted to turn the capital into “the undisputed world leader” of climate change research adding that “cities produce 75 per cent of global carbon emissions and it is therefore in cities that the battle against climate change will have to be won.”
Mr Livingstone described climate change as “a tremendous challenge to humanity” but said it is also “a tremendous opportunity” for the capital. The Mayor said three things were needed to successfully tackle the threats and win the battle:
- the determination to tackle climate change and not denial of its reality or consequences.
- sophisticated financial institutions to respond to carbon trading and investment in new technologies.
- state of the art scientific and technical research facilities to develop the technological solutions of the future.
adding that although a number of cities had parts of this solution “London is the only one that brings together all three.”
“The world is shifting to a new technical and financial system in which we do not produce and waste energy, in the form of carbon, but must conserve it. London has the potential to be at the centre of this shift and intends to work with all the other great world cities to achieve it.”
