London Mayor Sadiq Khan took the radical step yesterday of applying to start a new clean energy supplier that will eventually power Transport for London.

When the licence is granted, it will allow London to buy energy from small, low and zero carbon energy generators and sell it directly to the public sector to help meet their electricity needs.

The Mayor of London is also aiming to use it to power escalators and ventilation systems in tube stations, offices and other facilities.

If successful it could also expand to powering all of Transport for London and other services such as the Metropolitan Police and even NHS facilities.

The scheme help London generate more clean energy and create additional investment and jobs in the sector too, City Hall says.

It will be run by a new non-profit company called Energy for Londoners, which aims to take a lead on renewable energy initiatives across the capital.

Khan said in a statement yesterday:

I want my daughters and every Londoner to grow up in a city that is cleaner and greener, in which people aren’t dying because the air is so filthy. And I want London to be at the cutting edge of new green technologies, generating the growth and jobs of the future.

The license is expected to be granted in September, and it would make City Hall the first local authority in the UK to hold such a clean energy ‘lite’ licence.

During his campaign, Sadiq Khan that he would have London run on clean energy by 2050.

This is the kind of radical, important ideas Labour should be pushing at a national level too