City: The London Accord

The London Accord is an agreement from willing parties to allow free access to valuable research that can help assess the economic impacts of various investments. The accord captures the world's highest quality investment research and makes it available to anyone who wishes to access it. This has helped shape environmental policy in the UK and abroad, and continues to be an important resource for today's decision-makers.

The accord is a collaborative research project led by a consortium of partners, including the City of London, BP, Gresham College, Reuters, Forum for the Future and Z/Yen

Each year, specialist research teams based in the City of London produce a significant amount of new research reports. This research includes the examination of economic impacts resulting from changing social and environmental circumstances, particularly from a financial or investment perspective. 

The content of such reports can be very useful to inform politicians, decision-makers, academics and members of the public. It is the aim of the London Accord that such research reaches a wider audience than just the commissioners, while the context is still pertinent.

In its first phase, the London Accord focused its attention on climate change.  The City of London attracted financial backing from 20 organisations based within the City, Europe and North America to conduct some of the most comprehensive analysis of the financing of climate change solutions to date.

Wide influence

The impact of this work was substantial. The profile of the work and interest in the London Accord grew quickly both nationally and internationally, to such an extent that it was able to influence the direction of the UK Energy Policy Review, European Union Emission Trading System and other international development programmes.

Both the German and Italian governments have shown interest in the work of the accord and the implications for the eco-technology sector. The accord has also influenced the investment community, with two of the world's top five pension funds subsequently undertaking fundamental reviews of their portfolios in light of the findings.

The London Accord moved into its second phase in 2008, working closely with the Enhanced Analytics Initiative to capture research from a much broader field of issues.  Since then the accord has seen dozens of organisations donate research for public access on topics ranging from greening the ICT sector to genetically-modified organisms.

The London Accord website is hosted by the City of London and will remain free to access online. The accord hopes to see the site grow over time and become the world's most important repository for this type of research.

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Links to other case studies: Camden | Croydon | Haringey | Southwark | Sutton | East London

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