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East Greenwich and Greenwich Peninsula, London, UK, are to benefit from a new clean air initiative thanks to Sharing Cities.

The five-year Sharing Cities programme uses technology and advanced data analytics to address challenges faced by major cities. The initiative is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme.

Sharing Cities will work alongside the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s low-emission neighbourhood (LEN) programme to implement new schemes which will address local air quality.

Nathan Piece, Sharing Cities transnational programme director, the Greater London Authority, said: “The people of Greenwich will undoubtedly benefit from the Sharing Cities scheme, in which some of the brightest and best brains in Europe are sharing their knowledge in an attempt to meet the challenges of issues such as air pollution and congestion.”

In excess of 30 partner organisations from across Europe met in Royal Greenwich as part of the EU programme.

During this meeting, the borough announced a zero-emission deliveries (ZED) project – the first council-supported cargo bike ZED scheme in London, which aims to reduce congestion and poor air quality in Greenwich, caused by delivery vehicles.

The project will offer local residents and businesses a service for letters, parcels, and goods weighing up to 200kg.

Greenwich is also introducing an electric bike loan scheme as a further supplement. Residents can loan an e-bike for a month to trial the technology and to see how it can help them cycle more, and further, around London.

“Deliveries contribute significantly to congestion and pollution and the new zero-emission delivery project should help provide a cleaner alternative for local businesses so they can minimise the impacts of their logistics movements, and help improve air quality locally,” added the councillor and cabinet member for transport, economy and smart cities, Sizwe James.