Climate change and weather
London’s climate is changing. We’re having hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters. We’re also having extreme weather like heavy rainfall and heatwaves more often. Most scientists agree that this is caused by human actions that emit greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Climate change
We’re tackling climate change in two ways: we’re cutting London’s greenhouse gas emissions to limit further climate change, and adapting to the changes in climate and extreme weather that are already happening. Adapting will help us to reduce the impact of climate change and weather upon Londoners.
Cutting emissions
We’re working to cut London’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to limit further climate change. CO2 is produced when fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas are combusted in power stations, home boilers and cars, or from industrial processes like creating concrete.
The Mayor has set a target for London to become a zero carbon city by 2050. Most of London’s emissions (about 80 per cent) come from burning fossil fuels to power and heat buildings, and the rest from transport. The Mayor's London Environment Strategy explains what we’re doing to meet this target. To find out more about our programmes and activities, click on the below links:
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our energy efficiency programmes are cutting London’s energy use from buildings
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our energy supply programmes are working to supply more of London’s energy locally so it is more secure, affordable and low carbon
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we’re supporting the use of low carbon hydrogen to power transport and heat and power buildings
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we’re working with Transport for London to cut energy use from transport and use new technologies to cut emission
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we’re measuring the amount of greenhouses gases in London every year through the London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory
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we’re also increasing jobs and investment into our climate change programmes through our green economy work
Adapting to a changing climate
Our climate is already changing, and is expected to change even more, as a result of the amount of greenhouse gases we have released into the atmosphere. This will be experienced as changes to our average weather and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather.
We expect London’s summers to become hotter and drier and by the middle of the century, an average summer will be a fifth drier and an average summer’s day 3°C warmer. Heatwaves will be more likely and be even hotter. Winters, by contrast, will be milder, but wetter, with very heavy rainfall periods becoming more frequent.
The Mayor’s climate change adaptation strategy, Managing Risks and Increasing Resilience, identifies that the current risks from extreme weather - floods, droughts and heat – will become greater in the future unless we take action. The strategy sets out a range of actions, highlighting those where we are best placed to lead. These include:
- helping to reduce flood risk in London through our Drain London programme
- helping London to cope with droughts through our water supply programmes
- supporting more green roofs, green walls and local green spaces to help London cope with overheating, flooding and drought
- helping to reduce heat risk.
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