London Bridge Decarbonisation Charter

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 to do business in the world.

The Charter is collective commitment to work with TLB towards being a net zero business district, as well as individual businesses making their own sustainability commitments. 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 127,500 tCO2e in 2023 (against a baseline of 134,000 tCO2e in 2019).

Each year, businesses will renew their commitment and review their progress against these themes.

The Charter is not a legal framework, but a commitment to improve and work together (see FAQs section).

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 collectively and individually 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. 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 can 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 move towards net zero. The Charter will inspire businesses to become a Trailblazer by setting an earlier more ambitious science-based target, but recognises that businesses need to work their way towards that. 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 up to the Charter and 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.