Purpose
The London Bridge Decarbonisation Charter is a framework for business members of Team London Bridge (TLB) and area stakeholders to commit to making London Bridge one of the most sustainable places for business in the world.
The Charter is both a collective commitment to work with TLB towards being a net zero business district, and a commitment for your own business to take part through your own sustainability journey. This will be achieved through the application of a number of charter themes, set out below, that will each help reduce emissions in London Bridge, calculated at around 127,500 tCO2e in 2023 (against a baseline of 134,000 tCO2e in 2019).
The Charter is not a legal framework, but a commitment to improve and work together (see FAQs).
Context
The London Bridge Business Improvement District (BID) Net Zero Routemap, published in July 2022, identified how the local business community, supported by TLB, can reduce carbon emissions to become a net zero business district.
The Routemap sets outs how to achieve a net zero target by 2030, aligning with Southwark Council’s own climate strategy, and that of London. We know this challenge will be impossible without the spirit of collective endeavour set out in this Charter. The Routemap also recommends that businesses within the BID area, including TLB, set science-based or net-zero targets. This Charter will support progress on both collective and individual business paths.
Three types of action are set out in the Routemap to help us achieve these aims: enabling mechanisms; communal projects; and business-led initiatives. A sustainable transition fund, spent on local sustainable projects to deliver local benefits, is also recommended to help offset residual emissions.
To support the delivery of the Routemap, TLB and the London Bridge Net Zero Steering Group – made up of member businesses - have created this Decarbonisation Charter.
Charter commitments
There are two commitments that businesses sign up to in this Charter:
1. A collective commitment to decarbonise the business district and be one of the most sustainable places to do business in the world. It is open to any organisation with a stake in the London Bridge BID area, regardless of size, business type, whether branch or main office, or where you are on your decarbonisation journey. The more businesses that sign, the greater indicator of the strength of this collective endeavour.
2. An individual business commitment to take action to decarbonise. While the Charter encourages businesses to become a Trailblazer by setting an earlier more ambitious science-based target, it also recognises that every business is different and will work towards that goal differently. The aggregate of these individual commitments will indicate how much progress the wider business community is making.
The Charter will be backed up with funding, resources, tools and networking via TLB to enable businesses to decarbonise more effectively across the charter themes set out below.
By signing the Charter and embracing the charter themes set out below, your company along with others will shape a district that leads on decarbonisation, remains competitive, builds resilience, and offers innovative products and services for businesses, residents and visitors.