How London is becoming a greener City

It might be home to over 8 million inhabitants, but that’s not stopping London from becoming a greener city.

With more and more investments into green solutions around the city, such as green buildings and efficient transport, it’s becoming more environmentally friendly by the day.

And whilst local councils are busy making the city and its infrastructure more sustainable, Londoners themselves can contribute too with greener lifestyle choices that will help the city overall.

London’s Green Landscape

Known for its skyscrapers like The Shard and The Gherkin, London’s no stranger to the modern skyline that is so synonymous with major capitals around the world. And the city’s focus on buildings is exactly what is making it more eco-friendly with a rise in investment in energy-efficient buildings across the board.

Such schemes include Warmer Homes, Retrofit Accelerator Homes, Energy Leap, and London Power, all of which contribute to London’s net zero goal by 2030. This includes installing 2.2 million heat pumps in homes, 460,000 buildings connected to district heating networks, and a 40% reduction in heat demand for London’s buildings.

Things to do in the city of London

Tourism in London is also going green. The Arcola Theatre, a venue that hosts some of the best performance artists in the whole city, is light years ahead of its peers with 24 sq. feet of solar panels, serving only local beer, reusing materials for renovations, and installing carbon-neutral heating.

Other green destinations include The Culpeper Roof Garden which serves only what is grown on-site and hosts gardening workshops; Gather which is an organic ‘refillery’ where you can collect eco-friendly household goods; and The Lexi Cinema which uses energy-efficient projectors, solar panels, and shows mostly independent, locally-made films.

Greener lifestyle choices for Londoners

Londoners themselves can do a lot to make their city greener, simply by making environmentally conscious choices. Such changes can include commuting by public transport instead of driving. By far the most efficient ways to travel are by walking, bicycle or train. And with such great connections in and around the city, taking the train for long or medium distances could cut your emissions by a staggering 80%.

Londoners could also pay attention to where they buy their food. With more farmers markets popping up around the city, this is your chance to each locally-grown or produced food that avoids transportation emissions and supports local businesses.

Finally, recycling your waste is the key to living a green lifestyle as a Londoner. And that’s not just limited to plastic and paper. Recycling food scraps is also a great way to create your own compost to use for your home-grown vegetables.

You can find out more about sustainability in London’s top eco hotels and co-living spaces like Domi Co-living to better understand how London’s businesses work hard to implement greener measures to make London one of the greenest cities in the world.

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Manuela WillboldOnline Media & PR Strategist

Blogger and Educator by Passion | Senior Online Media & PR Strategist at ClickDo Ltd. | Fascinated to Write Lifestyle Blogs in News & Education I have completed a journalism summer course at the London School of Journalism and manage various blogs.