London set for 'extreme weather event' in coming years, Mayor's green adviser warns

 
Drowned world: London could be braced for more scenes like this, shown in the film 'Flood'
29 November 2013

London is likely to experience an “extreme weather event” in the coming years, Boris Johnson’s green adviser warned today.

Matthew Pencharz said a Hurricane Sandy-style tidal surge was “unlikely” but the capital could suffer from major flooding. “So far we’ve been lucky and they’ve missed us but one day there will be very intense rainfall, probably in a very localised area of London, and we need to be ready for that,” he said.

The Mayor has invited a prominent climate sceptic to talk at City Hall but Mr Pencharz is “pretty sold” on the idea that human activity is responsible for climate change and denied that his boss’s views made his job harder.

“I don’t think it has any affect on our programmes. We signed up to these policies and strategies and the point is they are delivering a better quality of life and economic growth for this city,” he said. “He’s very taken with cutting people’s energy bills as a way of selling the green agenda.”

He suggested the Tories should take the lead on green issues as they could help deliver many of their economic aims. “It’s shame the agenda I work on has got a bit of a bad reputation among some of those on the Right,” he said.

Mr Pencharz, 36, admitted that Labour’s energy price freeze plan was “extremely attractive” but added: “It is either undeliverable or it could potentially cause absolute chaos in long-term investment in this stuff.”

He said it was “very, very hard” for a politician to admit that Britain had the lowest energy prices in western Europe. The low price per unit was not translated into cheaper bills because buildings in the UK were “so leaky”.

Retrofitting to improve energy efficiency is one of the key planks of the Mayor’s environmental programme, however, his original target of retrofitting 1.2 million homes by 2016/17 was downgraded to 230,000.

But the biggest pressure on Mr Pencharz’s team is providing the infrastructure to keep the lights on in London. The Mayor wants 25 per cent of our energy needs to be generated locally by 2025. It stands at just below five per cent. City Hall is “very keen” on fracking under London’s streets though it looks unlikely shale gas will be there.

“Yes, we’ve got a long way to go. I’m not going to sit here and pretend it’s not challenging, but the Mayor is pulling every lever he can,” the aide said.However, he hopes to have units like the one in Bunhill, where surplus heat from the Tube is used in 700 homes, across every borough.

The Mayor’s carbon emissions target — inherited from Ken Livingstone — of 60 per cent on 1990 levels by 2025 is also some way off, although Mr Pencharz says emissions are falling. “What has made it more challenging, and many reasonable people will see this, is London’s growing population,” he said.

The latest figures show a decline in recycling rates in half of London boroughs. “It’s not just London it’s the whole country. It’s an explanation not an excuse. We actually do quite well on dry recycling... what we fall behind on is garden waste.”

He claimed “the waste we’re creating in London is actually reducing” and also insisted the capital did more than most European cities on air quality.

Mr Pencharz, a former BBC producer who then became the Mayor’s political adviser, admits it took some time to prove himself. “I would say you have got to earn the respect of people in this field and yes I was a new face... but 18 months in I think I have,” he said.

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