London London’s carbon emissions higher than when council declared a climate emergency five years ago Share A progress report on the Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) reveals that total amount of greenhouse gas emissions from London in 2023 were higher than in 2019 when council declared a climate emergency. “Our progress is kind of a mixed bag of things,” admitted Jay Stanford, Director of Climate Change, Environment, and Solid Waste. “There's a couple of good news stories in there, and there's some things that are uncomfortable and actually heading in the wrong direction at this point in time.
” In 2022, city hall launched its Climate Emergency Action Plan that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 55 percent (from 2005 levels) by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. However, the latest results aren’t encouraging. In 2023, London released the equivalent of 3.
11 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That’s higher than the 3.07 megatonnes released in 2019 prior to the pandemic.
Total GHG emissions in London compared to targets (City of London) Back-to-back annual increases are pushing London further off the projections needed to achieve its emission targets set out in the CEAP. “It shows you how much work is still required over the next 6 to 7 years,” explained Stanford. “So we've got to pull up our socks and work a little bit harder, but these are the challenges that all municipalities in Canada and across North America have.
” The update repo.