£2.9m to make 38 London schools greener

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has unveiled the first schools to benefit from the new Greener Schools pilot, which will enable schools to spend less on their energy bills and more on children’s education.

In December 2024, the Mayor encouraged London boroughs to apply for the £2.9 million available funding, and has since acquired an additional £9.6 million through boroughs delivering additional investment. 

Announced yesterday (14th April 2025), 38 schools across 16 London boroughs will save an average of almost £15,000 on their energy bills as part of the mayor’s promise to help schools cut both costs and carbon emissions.

The beneficiaries across a variety of education stages, including five special schools, two nurseries, two secondary schools, and 31 primary schools, will receive an average of over £77,000 each. Additional funding of almost £1 million will support an additional 13 schools.

This funding will allow schools to introduce the necessary energy-saving measures such as insulation, LED lights, solar panels, heat pumps, as well as climate engagement activities like school-wide sustainability projects.

The initiative is scalable and has the potential to be rolled out nationally to benefit more children and schools across the country. Should all of London’s schools use energy saving interventions, this could save over £50 million annually from the education budget.

Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, said: “I am delighted to announce the first schools across the capital to benefit from my new Greener Schools initiative. This investment will help schools reduce their energy costs so they can spend more on vital resources such as books, technology and staff — and cut carbon emissions so schools can play their part in tackling air pollution in the capital.

“Working with the boroughs, we’ve been able to leverage a further £9.6 million to fund more vital projects in more schools, helping to meet our target of achieving net zero by 2030, as we continue working to build a greener and fairer London for everyone.”