Sadiq Khan is to meet the Pope to talk about the benefits of the Ulez and other efforts to tackle the “climate emergency”.
The mayor is flying to Italy on Wednesday, ahead of a climate change summit event at the Vatican on Thursday at which he will lead a delegation of mayors from cities across the world.
Mr Khan is scheduled to have a private audience with Pope Francis after addressing the conference. City Hall said this would be a “rare opportunity for the Mayor to share ongoing strategies and challenges that London and other global cities face in the realm of climate action”.
Mr Khan said: “I am truly honoured to have been invited to participate in this key summit hosted by his Holiness Pope Francis, bringing together leading political, civic and religious leaders to tackle the biggest global threat we face today.
“I am determined for London to continue to be a world leader in tackling the twin dangers of air pollution and the climate emergency, but the need for coordinated global action has never been so urgent.
“As Mayor of one of the most diverse cities in the world, where we celebrate the huge contributions of different religious communities, it will also be an honour to discuss how faith and cooperation between different faiths can be a force for so much good.”
It will be the first foreign visit of Mr Khan’s third term and follows his attendance at the UN summit on climate change in New York last year and at a C40 event in Buenos Aires in 2022.
The C40 is a group of world city leaders committed to promoting “green” policies. It is co-chaired by Mr Khan.
When Mr Khan became the first Muslim mayor of a Western city in 2016, Pope Francis hailed the significance, saying it personified the idea of integration within Europe. He also noted that Mr Khan chose to take his first oath of office in Southwark Cathedral.
A spokesman said Mr Khan would mention the Ulez in his speech to the Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience summit, when the Pope is expected to be present. The event is hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
More than a million Londoners are Catholics. Mr Khan is expected to discuss how co-operation between different faiths can be a catalyst for unity, as well as a driving force behind action to protect the planet.
Pope Francis has repeatedly called for greater action to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and in 2019 declared a “global climate emergency”.
Mr Khan will be accompanied by four aides for the overnight trip. C40 will pick up the bill for the mayor and two of his aides, while the costs incurred by the other two aides will be covered by City Hall.
Mr Khan is due to share his “knowledge and insight” on the policies he has pursued in his first two terms and his plans for the future.
It is not yet known whether the Ulez expansion to the Greater London boundary last August has improved air quality. However the central and inner London Ulez, which launched in 2019 and 2021 respectively, are credited with reducing roadside nitrogen dioxide.
During the most recent mayoral election campaign, Mr Khan ditched plans to replace the Ulez with a pay-per-mile “smart” road charging scheme, meaning the environmental policies in his third term will focus on making all 8,500 London buses “zero emission” by 2030.
