Boris touts flagship low-carbon zones for London

Businesses in London could soon be invited to be involved in flagship low-carbon zones, designed to showcase the technologies that will be required to meet the London mayor's ambitious carbon reduction targets.

Speaking at Prince Charles' May Day Summit last week, Boris Johnson said that the London Development Agency (LDA) would provide £3m for 10 zones, with each zone receiving at least £200,000. He added that the LDA would also be seeking additional funding for the zones from third-party investors.

The zones will have to commit to delivering emission reductions of over 20 per cent by 2012, and are expected to include initiatives to roll out insulation and smart meters across commercial and residential properties.

They will also have to make proposals for small and community scale renewable energy technologies such as rooftop solar panels or decentralised biomass heat and power plants.

A spokeswoman for the mayor's office said details of the zones were yet to be decided, as the LDA is inviting applications for funding from London boroughs until the end of July. Under the rules of the application process, each zone must cover at least one street, but can contain no more than 1,000 buildings.

Johnson said that he intended them to be "an armada of flagships" across London, providing boroughs, businesses and households with working examples of how they can cost-effectively cut carbon emissions.

The Green Party's Darren Johnson welcomed the proposals, but warned that they were seriously underfunded. "Given that it takes an estimated £11,000 for a home to achieve the 80 per cent cut in emissions needed, it is very disappointing that the mayor is only offering £3m," he said. "Unless much more is invested, only about 280 London homes will be made truly carbon friendly."

Meanwhile, the mayor has announced plans to expand his street tree-planting programme with new trees on 40 tree-free streets and the launch of a new web site that allows Londoners to request that a tree is planted outside their home.

"Street trees are an uplifting addition to our communities and I am determined to reverse their decline," Johnson said. "There are now 40 locations across London which are set to benefit from brand new street trees. I am urging people in these priority areas to ask for a tree online, so we can help to plant trees where people most want them."

The mayor's office said that plans to plant 10,000 new street trees across the capital will deliver significant environmental benefits, including improved air quality, flood protection and resilience from heatwaves.