London smart city solutions

2. The future of transport

London's journey to a smart city extends to its transport network, with an ambitious goal. By 2041, the capital aims for 80% of journeys to be made on foot, on a bicycle or on public transport.[2]

Nearly 27m trips are made every day in London, a figure expected to grow to 33m by 2041. Currently, more than half of these trips are made by public transport, cycling or on foot. The Mayor’s Transport Strategy outlines Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s vision for a greener London and the policies and actions needed to achieve it.[3]

As of November 2024, London has more than 21,488 electric vehicle (EV) charging points, with more than 2,000 rapid or ultra-rapid EV charging points in south-east England.[4]

The city’s transport agency, Transport for London (TfL), has a unique and ambitious approach to innovation, as exemplified in the London RoadLab initiative.[5]

London is also home to the Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL), a real-world tech-enabled environment for testing and developing future transport and mobility solutions.

3. A cleantech leader with further market potential

The Mayor of London wants to ensure London is a zero-carbon city by 2050, and is integrating factors surrounding air quality, green infrastructure, climate change mitigation and energy and waste.[6]

London’s Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS) were worth £50bn in 2020/21, before dropping to £42.9bn due to the pandemic. However, the value returned to £50bn in 2022/23 and was generated by more than 18,200 businesses employing more than 310,000 people. In addition, in 2022/23, London’s LCEGS sector exports had a value of £3.5bn.[7]

Voted Europe's best smart city in 2024, the capital scores incredibly high on its technology, connectivity and green infrastructure. London has more 5G towers than any other European city, with a total of nine, and average broadband speeds of 82.7mbps, which is higher than 65% of other cities.[8]

In 2019, London became the world’s first National Park City, an initiative which aims to better connect nature, places and people. The 130 volunteer London National Park City Rangers support the capital’s almost 50% green and blue spaces, which boast 8.4m trees.[9]

Further supporting businesses of the future, CleanTech London brings together the community to accelerate innovation and support the growth of the sector in the capital. 

Find out more about London's cleantech sector.

4. Where real estate meets tech

As a competitive, global commercial real estate investment market and home to a globally renowned tech centre, it’s no surprise that London is a hotbed for proptech.

From dedicated accelerators and incubators, such as Pi Labs and Geovation, to London success stories including Zoopla and Purplebricks, the capital is building the foundations for an exciting future in smart city initiatives.

The Mayor of London has launched the Future Neighbourhoods 2030 funding programme to help London’s most disadvantaged areas define environmental challenges and transition to a low-carbon circular economy.

British households are making more green energy upgrades than ever before according to MCS. As of 2024, 900,000 UK households have solar panels. Since 2007, almost 1.2m homes have been fitted with renewable energy technology, with the cost of installations going down by about 65%.[10]

Find out more about London's proptech sector.

5. Renewable energy

London was ranked in first place again on the Global Green Financial Index (GGFI 11) in 2024.[11]

For the first time, renewable energy from wind, solar and hydropower (37%) accounts for more of the UK’s electricity output in 2024 than fossil fuels (35%).[12]

The capital is also home to two renewable energy unicorns, Octopus Energy and Newcleo. Founded in 2021, Newcleo is a visionary in nuclear energy, receiving €537m of private funding, and with a current annual turnover of €50m.[13]

6. Accessible, responsive, citizen-oriented public services

London is transforming its public services to better meet the needs of its citizens, and owns the accolade as one of the smart cities in the UK. The capital has long been recognised as a leader in mobilising open data for public benefit, as evidenced through the London Datastore and Transport for London’s open data policy.

In 2022, the Mayor of London set a target to supply 100% of TfL energy from renewable sources. This is in addition to 15% of London’s overall energy supply from renewable, local sources by 2030.[14]

All Tube stations and Underground tunnels are set to have internet access by the end of 2025. Transport for London is installing more than 2,000km of cabling in London’s Tube tunnels to provide full fibre connectivity across the city.

The London Office of Technology & Innovation (LOTI) is set to build common capability and drive the opportunity to collaborate and scale digital innovation across the capital’s local authorities.[15]

21 clean energy projects have been funded for 2024/25 by the London Community Energy Fund.[16]

Find out more about sustainable business in London.

London has become a hub for sustainability, as well as innovative startups pioneering the latest in technology, so this makes it a great peer environment and that is why we prefer London as the place to be.

Aarvee Associates

Success stories

Hear from the companies that have benefited from London's business ecosystem.