earth science

The London Accord

The London Accord is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The London Accord rather than just read about it. In short: The London Accord is a collaboration between investment banks, research houses, academics and NGOs to produce free research on climate change for financial investors. It is intended as a reference guide for investors in the climate change sector.

Key takeaways

The London Accord belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The London Accord to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The London Accord from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The London Accord is a collaboration between investment banks, research houses, academics and NGOs to produce free research on climate change for financial investors. It is intended as a reference guide for investors in the climate change sector. The London Accord is the largest cooperative project in the world on investment opportunities in avoiding climate change (about 7 million UK pounds).

History The London Accord began in 2005, was launched formally in March 2007 and published its first results on 19 December 2007 launching them at a roll out meeting at Mansion House in London. These findings are freely available from its website. Its main summary of December 2007 said:

The IPCC shows that the world needs to act to avoid disastrous climate change, and act now. The Stern Report shows that the overall cost of strong early action is much less than the cost of inaction. The International Energy Agency shows the changes in fuel mix and energy usage that are necessary to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a safe level. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change shows how much money is required by region and by technology to realise a scenario that achieves stabilisation. The UNFCCC report shows further that 86% of that investment has to come from the private sector. That equates to private sector investment through 2030 in excess of $600bn per year. The London Accord report shows investors and policy makers by technology how attractive that private investment is, at the end of 2007.

Findings The findings of the research carried out show that:

energy investment is going to become much, much riskier key governmental focus should be on establishing cap-and-trade markets, then international carbon standards, then regulation; not taxation forestry is a big unknown – governments should fund research into the real extent of abatement potential and the real costs of forestation carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS) seems an unrealistic investment Since 2007 the London Accord has become one of the leading sources for policy-makers of investment research on environmental, social and governance issues. By the end of 2011, over 250 research reports had been released to the public. Funding for the London Accord has come from the City of London Corporation, Z/Yen Group and Gresham College.

Quotes about the London Accord David Lewis (Lord Mayor) said:

Climate change represents an unparalleled threat to our life on the planet and through the London Accord, the City's best brains have cooperated in an unprecedented way to tackle the challenge. The London Accord is the first open-source, co-operative investment analysis into opportunities and challenges in the energy supply and climate change market - which needs to be $600bn a year invested from the private sector over the next 25 years.

Climate change can be tackled if the investment is there - and the London Accord is the first comprehensive map for the investment community.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The London Accord

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The London Accord claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The London Accord before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The London Accord ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The London Accord

In research: The London Accord appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The London Accord in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The London Accord is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2007 establishments, 2007 in London, Carbon finance, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The London Accord outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The London Accord in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The London Accord means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The London Accord out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The London Accord in simple terms?

Why does The London Accord matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The London Accord?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The London Accord.