ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a personal view about low-carbon innovation and low-carbon economic development in developing countries. It is drawn from my perspective working largely within a developed country context, but increasingly in recent years having engaged with organizations and initiatives in developing countries to share insights and learning. For over 25 years now I have worked on energy efficiency and low-carbon technology innovation programmes, as well as policy formulation and execution for successive UK governments. This included, for example, the UK government's first renewable energy technologies research, development and deployment programme in 1978 and the Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme, which I helped to design in 1988 and subsequently directed from 1994 to 2001. From 2001 to 2011, I was one of the directors at the Carbon Trust 1 – an independent not-for-dividend company set up by the UK government with support from business to accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy.
