Environment

London's Square Mile going greener from October

London's Square Mile going greener from October
The City of London Corporation will start sourcing 100 percent of its electricity needs from renewables from October
The City of London Corporation will start sourcing 100 percent of its electricity needs from renewables from October
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The City of London Corporation will start sourcing 100 percent of its electricity needs from renewables from October
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The City of London Corporation will start sourcing 100 percent of its electricity needs from renewables from October

The City of London Corporation has announced its intention to power the UK capital's financial district – which is home to the Stock Exchange and the Bank of England – using electricity sources only from renewables from October 2018.

The City Corporation manages a number of services across London, including social housing, academies, wholesale markets and 11,000 acres of green space. It already has renewable energy operations in place at a number of its sites, including Hamstead Heath and Epping Forest, but is reported to source only 0.1 percent of its energy needs from renewables. That's about to radically change.

A proposal backed by members of the Policy and Resources Committee will see the generation of electricity on sites owned by the Corporation (by installing solar panels on Corporation-owned buildings, for example), investment in renewable energy production such as wind and solar outside of London and the purchase of green electricity that's already available on the market.

"Sourcing 100 percent renewable energy will make us cleaner and greener, reducing our grid reliance and running some of our buildings on zero carbon electricity," said the Committee's Catherine McGuinness. "We are always looking at the environmental impact of our work and hope that we can be a beacon to other organizations to follow suit. By generating our own electricity and investing in renewables, we are doing our bit to help meet international and national energy targets."

Other recent environment-friendly initiatives from the City Corporation include the installation of EV charging points in the Barbican, and a trial of the UK's first full electric refuse truck.

Source: City of London

2 comments
2 comments
EZ
What is a "Corporation" doing in the middle of a publicly owned city? Does it have to abide by the surrounding public laws and pay taxes?
Mik-Fielding
The City Of London Corporation exists outside many of the laws and democratic controls which govern the rest of the United Kingdom. The City of London is the only part of Britain over which parliament has no authority.
In one respect at least the Corporation acts as the superior body: it imposes on the House of Commons a figure called the remembrancer: an official lobbyist who sits behind the Speaker's chair and ensures that, whatever our elected representatives might think, the City's rights and privileges are protected.
The mayor of London's mandate stops at the boundaries of the Square Mile.
Strange as this may seem, it is also worth noting that every county council is, in-fact, a corporation and registered as such. The United Kingdom is in itself a PLC.
This is the same with police departments and many other public bodies that are usually seen as public services. A similar system is used in the USA and many other countries although it is not generally common knowledge.
Looking at the registration records for companies and corporations within the registration body of your country (Companies House in the UK) will provide some surprising and interesting entries ...