The City of London

The City of London Corporation is the body which looks after the “Square Mile”. It supports and promotes the City as the world leader in international finance and provides a host of services which benefit London, Londoners and the nation.

These services include managing over 10,000 acres of London’s best loved open spaces, running three wholesale food markets and acting as port health authority for the entire tidal Thames.

Delivering services across such a wide portfolio raised our awareness of London’s vulnerability to climate change, which is why The City of London Corporation has been a member of the London Climate Change Partnership since 2001.

The research and evidence based policy recommendations produced by the LCCP were instrumental in driving the City of London’s commitment to adaptation, and in 2007 it became the first UK local authority to develop a comprehensive climate change adaptation strategy.

The City of London has continued to develop this strategy, updating it in 2010 and integrating it into planning policy. Recent examples of our work in this area include our Green Roof Case Studies and the Cheapside Green Infrastructure Audit.

The City of London places a high value on the LCCP and continues to collaborate on research, particularly that which focusses on the financial services sector.

, Head of Sustainable Development, City of London Corporation

began his career by working as a field botanist on Cloud and Elfin rainforest in Northern Costa Rica. He subsequently worked as a minerals and highways planner for a number of Local authorities in England and Wales before joining the City of London as Head of Sustainable Development in 2000.

Simon holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Sciences, an MSc in Environmental Impact Assessment and a Masters in Public Administration and his professional interests range from carbon finance to international development.

Since joining the City of London Corporation he led the UK Government’s submission on financial services to the Johannesburg Earth Summit, developed the UK’s first dedicated climate change adaptation strategy and launched the London Accord , a collaborative research project on enhanced analytics.

In 2009 he was seconded to Defra for six months in order to project-manage the Local and Regional Adaptation Partnership for England. Simon’s blog is available at http://greensquaremile.blogspot.co.uk/.