When Mayor Boris Johnson addressed the Environment Agency in November 2008, it seemed he had converted to “the religion of climate change”, and put his indifference to environmental action behind him. So has he delivered?

Unfortunately the Mayor is a politician who likes to hype one or two catchy ideas. One first appeared in the long list of promises made in that speech – to spend £100m in his four-year term helping households to install insulation. The second is the target he then set – to insulate 200,000 homes by 2012.

Only a month later he recast his £100m as money to be spent “over four years in environmental programmes of one kind or another”. Wasn’t that just for home insulation?

By the time it appeared in his budget in January 2009 it was for “environment and climate change programmes”. If you add in other environment-related programmes such as those on walking, cycling and “smarter travel” the figure is more like £300m, so what was this £100m for and what happened to home insulation?

In fact, this figure of £100m keeps cropping up in the Mayor’s speeches with little explanation year after year; the definition subtly shifts each time.

Programmes have been delayed or cut, most match-funding from London’s boroughs has failed to materialise, and all the while the Mayor has continued to trumpet his £100m spending promise and his impressive-sounding targets.

The target of reaching all 1.2 million un-insulated homes in London by 2015 has only reached about 8,500 homes so far. You can watch my video about it here.

The LDA had a £9.75m budget to kick-start the programme, and boroughs were supposed to fund the advisors to reach hundreds of thousands of cold homes across London.

When I asked for an update in October 2010 the Mayor admitted that the funding was only going to reach 55,000 homes by the end of 2012, a quarter of his original target. But that didn’t stop him trumpeting the target in a press release later that month.

When I chased the Mayor about the shortfall in funding from the boroughs in November he admitted he had forgotten to follow up on a promise to lobby them.

If the Mayor did convert to the climate change religion, he’s a lapsed churchgoer.

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

   Whatever happened to Mayor Boris' green promises? http://bit.ly/dFYcIV

2. sianberry

   RT @libcon: Whatever happened to Mayor Boris' green promises? http://bit.ly/dFYcIV

3. Paul Crowley

   RT @libcon: Whatever happened to Mayor Boris' green promises? http://bit.ly/dFYcIV

4. Tom Chance

   RT @libcon: Whatever happened to Mayor Boris' green promises? http://bit.ly/dFYcIV

5. Gateshead GreenParty

   RT @libcon: Whatever happened to Mayor Boris' green promises? http://bit.ly/dFYcIV

6. Laurie

   RT @libcon: Whatever happened to Mayor Boris' green promises? http://bit.ly/dFYcIV

7. ellispritchard

   RT @libcon: Whatever happened to Mayor Boris' green promises? http://bit.ly/dFYcIV

8. Darren Johnson

   Whatever happened to @Mayoroflondon green promise. Thanks @sunny_hundal http://bit.ly/dWxKnp #environment #energy

9. Isabel Hardman

   RT @DarrenJohnsonAM: Whatever happened to @Mayoroflondon green promise. Thanks @sunny_hundal http://bit.ly/dWxKnp #environment #energy

10. Mark Edward Lewis

    RT @DarrenJohnsonAM: Whatever happened to @Mayoroflondon green promise. Thanks @sunny_hundal http://bit.ly/dWxKnp #environment #energy

11. sunny hundal

    RT @DarrenJohnsonAM: Whatever happened to @Mayoroflondon green promise. Thanks @sunny_hundal http://bit.ly/dWxKnp #environment #energy

12. Nick Watts

    RT @libcon: Whatever happened to Mayor Boris' green promises? http://bit.ly/dFYcIV

13. Young Greens

    Whatever happened to Mayor Boris’ green promises? via @libcon http://t.co/c2Ens6x by @DarrenJohnsonAM

14. Marta Owczarek

    RT @YoungGreenParty: Whatever happened to Mayor Boris’ green promises? via @libcon http://t.co/c2Ens6x by @DarrenJohnsonAM

15. Darren Johnson

    For those who missed "Whatever happened to Mayor Boris’ green promises?" http://bit.ly/feKDHa #environment #getagripboris

16. Fiona Radic

    RT @DarrenJohnsonAM: For those who missed "Whatever happened to Mayor Boris’ green promises?" http://bit.ly/feKDHa #environment #getagri …

17. Kim Harding

    RT @DarrenJohnsonAM: For those who missed "Whatever happened to Mayor Boris’ green promises?" http://bit.ly/feKDHa #environment #getagri …