ken livingstone

Who's the greenest London mayor candidate?

Posted by petespeller — 26 April 2012 at 4:10pm - Comments
A row of "Boris bikes"
All rights reserved. Credit: Steve Morgan / Greenpeace
"Boris bikes" were an initiative of Ken Livingstone implemented by Boris Johnson

People look to world cities like London to provide political leadership on national and international problems like ending our oil and gas addiction. With exactly a week to go before the May 3rd London elections, we’ve teamed up with Friends of the Earth to look at how the main four candidates shape up.

London goes retro to beat climate change

Posted by jamie — 29 February 2008 at 2:36pm - Comments

Fashion is a fickle beast but now a whole city is going retro (well, not quite but it was too good a pun to waste). The long-awaited plan to retrofit all buildings owned and operated by the Greater London Authority (GLA) with energy-saving systems and technology is finally in motion with contracts awarded to companies which are going to slash the capital's emissions.

While much of the discussion about energy efficiency in buildings has focused on new houses, there are still millions of older buildings that lack proper insulation or top-notch heating systems. No matter how good those eco-towns are, if and when they're built they'll only represent a small proportion of the building stock in the UK. Fortunately, the GLA have a cunning plan.

London to slash emissions from public buildings - Greenpeace response

Last edited 28 February 2008 at 12:39pm
28 February, 2008

Reacting to news of a major initiative to "retrofit" London's public buildings - including police and fire stations - to cut energy waste, Greenpeace Chief Scientist Dr Doug Parr said:

"London is setting the pace, and if we're going to beat climate change then we need to see this level of ambition in cities across the world. Slashing energy waste and decentralising power across the capital will save Londoners money and cut emissions, but just as importantly it will mean our city is seen as an environmental trailblazer.

Porsche sulks over London congestion charge, starts a petition

Posted by jamie — 22 February 2008 at 5:11pm - Comments

Porsche logoLondon mayor Ken Livingstone was never going to get an easy ride over his planned changes to the congestion charge, and Porsche's threat of a legal challenge is perhaps no big surprise. Famed for its fast, sleek, inefficient cars, it claims the new £25-a-day charge on gas guzzlers is "unfair and disproportionate".

As well as the promised judicial review, the company has started a petition for the Jeremy Clarksons of this world to voice their opposition to Ken's plan. "We know that huge numbers of people in London and across the rest of the country support our case," they claim. "They agree with us that it would be bad for London - that it is unfair and sends the wrong message about what sort of a city London is whilst having no meaningful benefit on the environment."

Ken keeps up the pressure against Heathrow expansion

Posted by jossc — 18 February 2008 at 1:27pm - Comments

With just over a week to go until the consultation process ends, London mayor Ken Livingstone is keeping up the pressure on the government to abandon plans to build a third runway at Heathrow airport. During a visit to Sipson, one of three villages threatened by the bulldozers if the plans go ahead, Ken said: "It is vital that all airport expansion in London and the South East, including Heathrow, is halted now as it is completely contrary to the growing evidence on the role of aviation in contributing towards catastrophic climate change.

Greenpeace response to London gas-guzzler congestion charge rise

Last edited 12 February 2008 at 1:00am
12 February, 2008

Responding to Ken Livingstone's announcement today that gas-guzzling vehicles will have to pay £25 a day to enter London's congestion charge zone, Greenpeace Chief Scientist Dr Doug Parr said:

"Gas guzzlers have no place in a modern city like London, so it's great news that the congestion charge will give people a big incentive to pollute less.

London mayoral candidates unite against Heathrow expansion

Posted by jossc — 16 January 2008 at 4:44pm - Comments

All four London mayoral candidates are unoted against Heathrow expansion

All four leading candidates for the forthcoming London mayoral election have joined forces to fight Gordon Brown's push for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick and Sian Berry have all agreed to feature in a new anti-expansion advertising campaign launched today. The ad features in the Times, Guardian, Independent and Evening Standard newspapers.

New bulbs for old in London bulb amnesty

Posted by jamie — 9 January 2008 at 12:36pm - Comments

As Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone might not be the perfect politician but at least he's streets ahead of central government on climate change and reducing emissions in the capital. His latest ploy is to hold a light bulb amnesty during which Londoners can exchange their old incandescent bulbs for a bright new energy-efficient one.

According to london.gov.uk, you can take up to two old-fashioned bulbs to any London branch of B&Q between Friday 11 and Sunday 13 January and exchange them for compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) provided by British Gas. Nice.

A zero-carbon home of one's own

Posted by jamie — 11 June 2007 at 5:26pm - Comments

Greenpeace volunteers on John Prescott's roof, with the solar panels they kindly installed for himIn the news today are reports of the first zero-carbon home being unveiled in London. Housing minister Yvette Cooper has been touring the site, nodding in a ministerial way at the insulation, solar panels, water recycling and construction methods that went into the first home to meet the top standards of the government's sustainable housing code.

According to the report on this morning's Today programme (you can listen again for the next seven days), the ultra-efficient abode cost 40 per cent more to build than a 'normal' house but as more are built, the economies of scale will bring that down. As the government intends to make all new housing zero-carbon by 2016, that price fall should start in the near future, although Cooper was evasive when quizzed about exactly how many of the 160,000 homes planned in the Thames Gateway region would be zero-carbon. A rolling increase in standards was all she would commit to.

No to Trident; the opposition grows

Posted by bex — 6 March 2007 at 10:23pm - Comments

Part of the Trident: we don't buy it tour blog

Annie Lennox, John Sauven and Ken Livingstone
© Greenpeace/Rezak

It's a funny old life being on a Greenpeace ship tour; one minute you're being boarded by police and put in solitary confinement for three days, the next you're being boarded by celebrities and working out the social niceties of how to address somebody with three titles before their name.

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