Having marked his first 100 days as London mayor, Sadiq Khan has chosen his 101st to announce the appointment of a deputy mayor for environment and energy. Shirley Rodrigues, who is currently acting executive director for climate change at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), a philanthropic organisation which operates in developing countries, has previously worked at City Hall on implementing London’s Low Emission Zone and programmes for retrofitting buildings. She is also former director of policy at the Sustainable Development Commission.
She will immediately take the lead on finalising Khan’s proposals for tackling London’s poor air quality, for which a consultation has already been conducted. The consultation results are to be published in September, followed by two further, more detailed, stages addressing plans for an initial £10 a day emissions surcharge on polluting vehicles entering central London and the forthcoming Ultra Low Emission Zone as a whole.
This is a policy area the mayor will be wanting to show continuing rapid progress on, particularly as it will take longer and, in some cases, be more difficult to demonstrate that he’s delivering on some of his other high profile manifesto pledges. Rodrigues’s appointment has been welcomed by Friends of the Earth’s Sophie Neuberg, who says it is “a strong signal that our environment is on the agenda at City Hall”.
Rodrigues will also be responsible for setting up a not-for-profit company to be called Energy for Londoners aimed at helping the city boost its recycling rates and produce more of its own, low carbon energy. During the election campaign, Khan paid an enthusiastic visit to the Bunhill Energy Centre in Islington, which diverts heat generated by the London Underground to heat homes. His manifesto says Energy for Londoners will provide:
A comprehensive range of energy services to to help Londoners generate more low carbon energy and increase their energy efficiency, support local and community energy enterprises, and buy clean energy generated across the city, using it to power GLA and TfL facilities.
Plenty for Rodrigues, Khan’s latest senior female appointee, to be getting on with, then. Here’s a clip of her talking about her work for CIFF with the C40 Cities climate change group.
Sadiq Khan’s manifesto pledges for creating “a greener, cleaner London” are here.
