Vectos

Last month London Climate Action Week (LCAW) took place, an annual event that brings together world leading climate professionals and communities to find solutions to climate change.

Building on the momentum of LCAW 2019 and July’s LCAW 2020 digital, the event harnessed the power of London’s global networks and  focused on four key themes: the roadmap to COP26, a green, fair and resilient recovery, a sustainable and net-zero London, and the whole of society climate mobilisation.

This year’s event held particular importance following the global pandemic, which has highlighted the need for urgent climate action. During the lockdown period, we witnessed what can be achieved if we alter the way we travel. For instance, global daily CO2 emissions fell by 17% at the peak of the crisis and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels were halved between March and June. However, this effort needs to be sustained long-term for us to make any difference to climate change, and as we all begin to return to a more normal way of life, we run the risk of falling into old habits.

Promoting sustainable mobility is a key focus of ours. Our CIVITAS Destinations scheme, which demonstrates and tests innovative solutions for cleaner and better urban transport and mobility in European tourist destinations, is one example of how we’ve helped trial initiatives such as eBus fleets, eBikes, and mobile gamification apps to create safe, attractive and accessible public spaces for all generations.

Another example is our CREATE project for the European commission, which aims to tackle urban road congestion with a focus on cities which are becoming more car dependent. We worked with European partners to evaluate the effectiveness of different policy measures in Western European cities where car ownership is decreasing so we could advise other cities in Europe which initiatives would be best to accelerate a move from car growth to more sustainable methods of mobility. This led to a future vision and strategy to address the challenges faced by cities and led them to create more sustainable living environments for their populations.

We’re committed to tackling climate change and we’re proud to see more force behind events like London Climate Action which are key to bringing people together.

A collection of interviews and quotes from speakers at the event can be found here: https://www.londonclimateactionweek.org/interviews