JD Sports joins RE100 as business pledges roll in for London Climate Action week

More commitments are expected across the course of the week

JD Sports and property investor Derwent London have committed to procuring 100% renewable electricity, while car park management company Apcoa Parking and retailer intu have joined the EV100 commitment to increase the uptake of electric vehicles (EV). Additionally, The City of London Corporation has also joined the RE100 to showcase its work on renewable energy – having sourced 100% renewable electricity since October 2018.

Kickstarting the launch of London Climate Action week, JD Sports has now committed to using 100% renewables globally by 2025 and in Europe by 2022. Derwent London has set its RE100 for 2020 and has already achieved this for all its managed properties by purchasing renewable energy attribution certificates and is exploring options around power purchase agreements.

Both Apcoa parking and intu have joined the EV100 initiative, which commits the firms to install EV charging infrastructure to increase the uptake of EVs.

intu facilitated more than 26,000 charges across its network of EV chargers, saving an estimated 137 tonnes of carbon dioxide as a result. As part of the EV100, intu will install more than 80 new charge points at its 14 directly managed UK shopping centres by 2020. The company will also transition to EVs for its own fleet by 2030. In 2017, intu launched a Green Lab to identify new solutions to reduce environmental impacts.

Apcoa Parking will switch its 300+ fleet of mopeds, cars, vans and buses in the UK and Ireland to EVs by 2030. Charging infrastructure will also be installed over the same time frame. Apcoa Parking currently has 22 charge points within the London Commuter Railway, as well as 21 at London Heathrow Airport.

The Climate Group’s chief executive Helen Clarkson said: “It’s exciting to see businesses leading by example on clean transport and energy in London and beyond – we need to act fast to reduce emissions at the speed needed to limit global warming to 1.5˚C.”

Big Clean Switch

A survey by edie, in association with Big Clean Switch and The Climate Group’s RE100 initiative, has found that four out of five businesses in rented properties are struggling to switch to clean energy.

The survey, which includes some of the UK’s biggest tenants, investigates landlords’ relationships with tenants on sourcing and switching to renewable energy – and the various challenges that arise, including communications between the two groups on the issue.

——– READ THE FULL REPORT HERE ——–

The report’s findings include that a third of commercial occupiers responding to the survey hadn’t approached landlords about switching to renewable energy and more than two-thirds (69%) said it was challenging to know who to speak to within landlord organisations about energy contracts.

Matt Mace

Comments (1)

  1. Alex Pearson says:

    26,000 charges saving only 137 tonnes of carbon – sounds a bit low, have they used 2016 grid carbon figures, and are those EV’s not travelling very far?

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe