City of London sets the ESG bar high for itself and investors

City of London Corporation investment committee chair Andrien Meyers, spoke to Real Asset Insight about the city’s ESG focus.

“In the environment space, we are in line with the UK government’s thinking of having a target for 2050 to be net zero. But of course, we’re the City of London Corporation, we’re a little bit more ambitious, so 2040 is our target,” Meyers said.

The corporation is more ambitious still when it comes to its commercial operations and has set a net zero deadline of 2027.

When investors or developers submit a planning application in the City, they now have to provide a whole-life carbon optioneering assessment, Meyers explained. This requires three or four different options to reduce impact in terms of carbon emissions for that application.

And on the social side applicants have to provide something for the community, perhaps in the form of retail or leisure space or, following covid, some green space. “If you’re an entrepreneur in fintech in the city, perhaps some hot-desking space. So, as a developer you got to be thinking about that,” Meyers said.