Land Securities, Pret a Manger and The Barbican Centre are among 18 major City of London based organisations to this week commit to tackling air pollution in the Square Mile.

Among the pledges made by the companies are new commitments to reduce gas consumption in City buildings, promote walking and cycling among workers, and reduce the number of deliveries to buildings.

The City of London’s 9,000 residents, 350,000 workers and nine million annual visitors have suffered increasingly poor air quality in recent years, which has attracted consternation from Brussels. Last month, the European Commission started legal proceedings against the UK for its failure to take sufficient action to comply with pollution limits.

However, the City of London Corporation has started to tackle the problem by penalising idling vehicle engines and plans to introduce a 20mph zone later this year.

It has also launched a new ‘CityAir’ scheme that will advise the group of firms signed up to the new initiative, which also include Nomura, UBS, BNY Mellon, Investec, Deloitte and Caffé Nero.

In addition, the Corporation has been working with Kings College London to develop a CityAir app, allowing users to sign up for pollution alerts and find cleaner routes to work when levels of air pollution are high in the capital.

Wendy Mead, deputy chairman of the City Corporation’s Port Heath and Environmental Services Committee, said: “The commitments that these businesses have made are a crucial first step on the path to improved air quality in the Square Mile. If we are to secure the improvements that are needed in London, we all need to play our part.

via City of London firms commit to air quality improvements – 20 Mar 2014 – News from BusinessGreen.