Making Connections for Climate Action: urban transport and renewable energy

Public lecture hosted by LSE Cities and the Urban Transport Group

Metropolitan regions around the UK and the wider world are pledging to move to net zero carbon emissions on ambitious timescales. With transport a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (in the UK transport is now the largest source), urban transport authorities have a key role to play in the transition to net zero.

Some of the measures that urban transport authorities can take are solely transport measures, such as promoting modal shift. However, others require transport authorities to make better connections with other sectors — connections which are both institutional and knowledge based in order to realise more opportunities for complementary cross-sector measures, and which are capable of delivering greater carbon reduction benefits than would be the case if the transport sector worked in isolation.

Florian Beiberbach, CEO of Stadtwerke Munchen, will present the innovative local authority owned utility company that brings together, amongst other things, the energy supply and an integrated local public transport system. Juliet Davenport, CEO of Good Energy, will talk about the renewable energy sector in the UK and opportunities for closer links with local transport systems.

The subsequent discussion will explore how local institutional and governance arrangements support or hinder strategic and project-based cross-sector approaches and the lessons that could be learned. Panellists include Rasita Chudasama, Principal Transport Planner, who is working to join the dots on carbon between transport, energy and the built environment for Nottingham City Council; and Cllr Claudia Webbe, Islington Council’s executive member for environment and transport.

Profiles

    Florian Bieberbach

    Florian Bieberbach is the Chief Executive Officer of Stadtwerke München. He graduated in computer science and management from Technische Universität München (TUM) and holds a doctorate in economic sciences from TUM and an MBA in European Utility Management from Jacobs University Bremen. Bieberbach is president of CEDEC, the European Association of Local Energy Companies, and vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria. At TUM School of Management he serves as an honorary professor for energy markets and he is chairman of Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft e.V., an energy research institution.

    Juliet Davenport

    Juliet Davenport is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Good Energy – a renewable energy company with a mission to power a greener, cleaner future together with its customers. Davenport has been an innovator for over 20 years, working on ideas to fight climate change and transform the energy sector for the better. In 2013, she was awarded an OBE for services to renewables. She currently sits on the board of the Renewable Energy Association and Innovate UK and is Vice President of the Energy Institute. In addition, she sits on the advisory boards of leading UK think tanks, including Energy Systems Catapult, Aurora, Oxford Energy, and LSE’s Grantham Institute.

    Philipp Rode

    Philipp Rode is Executive Director of LSE Cities and Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. As researcher, consultant and advisor he has been directing interdisciplinary projects comprising urban governance, transport, city planning and urban design at the LSE since 2003. The focus of his current work is on institutional structures and governance capacities of cities, and on sustainable urban development, transport and mobility. Rode is co-directing the cities workstream of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate and has co-led the United Nations Habitat III Policy Unit on Urban Governance. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).