AMC

INTRO :
Hello everyone, today I'm going to talk about a subject that for
many and until recently was remote, global warming and more
specifically on the scale of London, as part of environmental
change. When we talk about global warming, we are talking about
the increase in temperatures linked to human activities, industrial
activities and especially the greenhouse effect. We know that
greenhouse gas emissions of human origin influence the climate.
But where do these emissions come from? Mainly, it is the
production of energy and fuel for transport that cause global
warming. Then there is land management, particularly
deforestation, agriculture and livestock farming. As a result we
have rising temperatures, rising oceans and increased rainfall….

We than ask how global warming affects London and how the
Mayor of London is handling the climate issue ?

To begin with, i want to introduce you a graph i took from

Meteoblue, which that shows the monthly temperature and
rainfall anomalies in London, the graph shows the temperature
anomaly for each month from 1979 to February 2023 and
indicates how much warmer or colder than the climate average it
was. Thus, the red bars indicate warmer months and the blue bars
indicate colder than normal months.

As you can see, the number of warmer months in London has

increased over the years, reflecting how much the global warming
associated with climate change is affecting the city.
Changement climatique Londres - meteoblue

1. Flooding problem
I will now continue with a phenomenon that affects many
Londoners and is partly due to climate change, namely flooding :

Indeed, for some time now, London has been hit by several
storms, heavy rainfall and rising sea levels which have led to
flooding in the capital, including at iconic sites such as Tower
Bridge, making access to roads difficult or impossible and causing
some stations to close.

According to a 2014 study, if water levels continue to rise, public

transport could be affected by flooding, with 10% of the network
and a quarter of stations at high risk of flooding. In
addition,According to data from The environmental Agency as the
Thames rises faster due to rising water levels, almost half of
London's hospitals and 20% of its schools are also at risk of
flooding.

In a way to prevent flooding and raise awareness of the risk of

irreversible damage, an interactive map created by Climate
Central shows areas of London that are at risk of frequent flooding
if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow
global warming. The Red here is used to indicate areas that will
be below water level and do not appear to be protected by dykes.
For instances, In west London, much of east Twickenham,
Chiswick, Hammersmith and Fulham will be covered in red by
2030. According to scientists, much of the capital could be
regularly submerged by 2030 due to rising sea levels and flooding.
In addition, scientists agree that as climate change progresses,
rainfall will become more frequent and intense, particularly in
summer. As a result, cities such as London will face an increased
risk of flash flooding as sewers and drains struggle to cope.
To address the problem of flooding, solutions have been
considered such as raising flood walls, opening up waterways at
risk of flooding, extending flood plains and upgrading the Thames
Barrier by 2070.

2. A small step for man, a big step for the environment

In a bid to deliver a better environmental future for London and

avoid the more damaging aspects of climate change, Mayor Sadiq
Khan, in his speech ahead of the COP26 summit, said he wanted
to take action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
With this in mind, the Mayor launched a new environmental
campaign to encourage Londoners to fight and mitigate the effects
of climate change.

In addition, sadiq khan has resolved to make London a net zero

carbon city by 2030. However, even if London has the lowest gas
emissions per capita, to reach its target, the mayor plans to, or has
already taken steps to tackle the biggest challenges facing the
capital, starting, according to experts, with reducing animal feed
consumption in favour of a plant-based diet, including raising the
prices of carbon-rich products.

On energy, the aim is to promote the use of more renewable

energy sources, but also the deployment of low carbon heating
systems by 2030, such as air source heat pumps.

waste is also a problem taken into account in London since every

year 7M tons of waste are produced and only 41% is recycled the
goal is to increase it to 65% by 2030. for the time being, the aim is
to help London boroughs set recycling targets through weekly
food waste collection.
Finally, in a context of decarbonization of the transportation
system, several measures are put in place, including the Healthy
Streets initiative, which aims to remove vehicles from certain
neighbourhoods to make room for bicycles and walking, as well as
the existence of very low emission areas in the centre of the
capital, which is trying to develop, making the most polluting
vehicles pay.

according to the BBC News article, in some of the measures

introduced by the mayor, positive results and progress are
observed in the case of transport with the increase in the number
of cyclists, the abandonment of emitting vehicles which continues
to increase, but also the success of the area with very low
emissions, which seems to have reduced pollution.

To sum up , we can say that despite the arrangements that the

mayor is trying to put in place to fight against the more
devastating effects of global warming, there is still a long way to
go and this requires greater equity, coherence and leadership in
government policy to encourage public engagement in the climate
challenge and contribute to achieving net-zero emissions .