The London Assembly yesterday (10 January) heard that despite having the Mayor’s £100 million London Green Fund at its disposal, it had not found any ‘commercially viable co-operative or community-led projects’ to invest in.
Set up in 2009, the £100 million fund was set up to provide investment in the form of ‘equity, loan and/or guarantee’ to London based projects with a ‘positive impact on the environment’. Any money generated as a result of investment would then be fed back into the fund for reinvestment in future urban development projects.
The money has been provided by a number of sources, with £50 million given by the European Regional Development Fund, £32 million by the London Development Agency and £18 million by the London Waste and Recycling Board.
Eight-five million pounds of the money raised has been allocated to two Urban Development Funds (UDFs) for investment in ‘waste management and energy efficiency projects’. A further £85 million must be raised from the private sector, though £75 million of this has already been sourced.
To date, just 20 per cent of the fund has been allocated: £11.5 million has been invested in a plastics recycling centre and a bio-gas plant and £19.8 million has been granted on loan to a public art gallery for ‘energy efficiency works.’
At a recent meeting of the Assembly’s Health and Environment Committee meeting, Chair of the Committee, Murad Qureshi AM, said: “It’s a great disappointment that more community-led schemes have not benefitted from the London Green Fund and I would call on any community group with a commercially viable scheme to get in touch and make their case.
“While it’s too early to say how successful the London Green Fund will be, with £100 million to invest, the fund could make a big difference to some very worthwhile projects. Our Committee will continue to monitor the progress of the scheme over the coming years.”
Partner at fund managers Foresight Group LLP, Andrew Page also expressed disappointment about the lack of appropriate projects applying for funding and suggested that a proposal along the lines of the community-led wind farms in Scandinavia would be appropriate.
Red more about the London Green Fund
Get our weekly digest
resource.co article ai
How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.