Decarbonisation charter for London's Westminster

Westminster Property Association and Westminster City Council have today launched London’s first Sustainable City Charter as part of the central London borough’s drive to be a zero-carbon city by 2040.

The charter provides a new framework for decarbonising the built environment, including 11,000 listed buildings. The City Westminster covers 8 square miles of central London, including the areas of Belgravia, St James’s, Soho and the West End.

The charter calls on businesses of all sizes to reduce emissions through measures around energy, waste, transport, procurement as well as sustainable fit-out and refurbishment, and promotes knowledge-sharing and transparency.  

Key recommendations include energy use audits, green leases, on-site renewables, buying green electricity and supporting walking and cycling.

Paul Williams, chair of Westminster Property Association and CEO of listed property firm Derwent London, said: “As a business community, and as citizens, we have a collective responsibility to reduce our carbon footprint and decarbonise our buildings and the ways in which we use them. 

“Many of the companies and organisations working in Westminster today are making excellent progress, investing and innovating in order to decarbonise their assets and operations but we recognise that we need to move faster, and be bolder to ensure Westminster becomes a net zero city by 2040.”