Briefly, the organisation I work for, the Carbon Trust, is an independent expert partner helping organisations around the world benefit from

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1 Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning, particularly to those that have travelled great distances to join us in London for the 2012 Olympics. Thank you for sparing the time to join us today at the London Business Network. I am Darran Messem, Managing Director of Carbon Trust Certification and International Director for the Carbon Trust. The Carbon Trust is based in Southwark, a short walk from here, and I live in Southwark, so today I am speaking to you as a local resident, a local worker, and as a practitioner in low carbon development and green technology. My task today is to give you an overview of the expertise and pioneering role of the United Kingdom s green technology sector. It s a huge field which I will struggle to do justice to in 15 minutes, but I intend to give you some overview information as well as some relevant examples. 1

2 Briefly, the organisation I work for, the Carbon Trust, is an independent expert partner helping organisations around the world benefit from sustainable green growth. We advise businesses, governments and the public sector on their opportunities in a sustainable, low carbon world. We measure and certify the environmental footprint of organisations, products and services. We innovate to help develop and deploy low carbon technologies and solutions, from energy efficiency to renewable power. 2

3 The UK has been a leader in green growth, with a series of 22 major policy initiatives over the last 20 years to encourage lower-carbon development. Four in particular have pushed the envelope of carbon reduction: the 2002 Emissions Trading Scheme, a forerunner of the European Emissions Trading Scheme; the 2008 Climate Change Act setting legally binding carbon reduction targets; the 2010 Carbon Reduction Commitment for large users of electricity; and just recently Mandatory Carbon Reporting for UK stock-exchange listed companies. Detail 1989: Non Fossil Fuel Obligation and Scottish Renewables Obligation 2000: Climate Change Programme to reduce CO2 emissions by 15-18%; Climate Change Levy tax on non-domestic energy use. 2001: Climate Change Agreement sets energy efficiency and carbon-saving targets 2002: Renewables Obligation requires electricity suppliers to purchase renewable energy; Energy Efficiency Commitment requires energy suppliers to achieve savings; UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UKETS) establishes carbon trading. 2005: European Union Emissions Trading System supersedes UKETS. 2007: Code for Sustainable Homes sets performance standards for new homes 2008: Climate Change Act set binding target of 80% less in emissions in 2050 (from 1990); Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) increases focus on household energy saving ; Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) requires suppliers of fossil fuels to meet specified percentage renewable fuels; Energy Performance Certificates required for building energy efficiency 2009: Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) require energy suppliers to achieve CO2 savings in the most deprived areas; The first three of three carbon budgets; Low-Carbon Transition Plan sets out policies to cut emissions across key sectors. 2010: Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC EES) requires carbon reporting by large electricity users and sets a carbon levy; Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) for small-scale low-carbon electricity; Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Demonstration Project. 2011: Carbon Plan; Green Investment Bank 2012: Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI); Mandatory Carbon Reporting 3

4 The UK is among the countries leading clean energy and energy efficient investment; ranked 6 th by the Pew Trust for clean energy investment in 2011, and 5 th relative to GDP 4

5 The UK is a leader in research and development. In 2011, according to American news service US News, four of the world s top ten universities were British. (Of course, John Harvard was born in Southwark in 1607; his family owning a butchers shop near Southwark Cathedral and The Queen's Head Inn on Borough High Street (just a few hundred yards from where we are today), money from which founded Harvard University in America after John graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge so we might claim that one too). British Universities have also led in spinning-out research into the private sector. For example, Eight19, named after the eight minutes and nineteen seconds it takes the sun s light to reach the Earth, is pioneering the development of thin film solar energy technology originally developed at Cambridge University. Ricardo is a world leading multi-industry consultancy for engineering, technology, project innovation and strategy, itself the brainchild of a graduate of Cambridge University. 5

6 An example of clean technology in practice is offshore wind energy. The UK has the largest installed offshore wind energy capacity in the world; 2.1 GW in A good example of how ambitious technology programmes are developed is the Offshore Wind Accelerator, led by the Carbon Trust, which brings together some of the world s leading offshore wind technology companies to research some of the more challenging technological issues 6

7 At a more down to earth level, O2 (a UK mobile communications company) has used flexible working technology and building services technology to consolidate three office buildings into two, and be re-certified to the Carbon Trust Standard for emissions reduction 7

8 In consumer products, the innovation and technology of Dyson is famous. The Dyson Airblade is 80% more energy efficient than conventional hand dryers, and the polycarbonate plastic used to make it produces 50% less emissions in production than the aluminium equivalent. The Dyson Airblade is the first ever hand dryer to be awarded the Carbon Trust s Carbon Reduction Label. 8

9 In the production and distribution of consumer products BT and the Carbon Trust have worked together to measure the carbon footprint for the full lifecycle of three of MTs key consumer products: the Home Hub, the Vision+box, and a Digitally Enhanced Cordless Technology phone. In the lifecycle of the BT Home Hub 2, the use phase accounts for 87% of greenhouse gas emission, and material acquisition and pre-processing accounts for a further 12%. Production, distribution, storage and end-of-life processing account for a mere 1%. BT was the first company in the world to have product carbon footprints independently verified by the Carbon Trust to the new GHG Protocol Product Standard. Through this work BT has been able to consider the emissions embodied in their products and emissions resulting from the way consumers use their products, informing everything from product design to customer communications. Lessons, of course, also extend to other BT products. 9

10 Between 1990 and 2007 UK absolute greenhouses gas emissions fell by 17%, and UK per capita greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 22%, compared with the European Average of 9% for absolute emissions and 13% for per capita emissions. 10

11 Turning briefly to our focus this week; the London 2012 Olympic games, and the use of clean technology: the London Olympics features the world s first recycleable stadium; a more sustainable velo-park; uniforms made from recycled material; recycling of demolition and construction waste; recycling of bottles; and smart metered electricity supply. 11

12 In summary, the UK has pioneered green technology over the last 20 years through an ambitious policy agenda, public and private sector investment, and organisations leading technology deployment at both the large and small scales, resulting world leading reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as well as green growth. Thank you for listening, thank you for joining us today, and for those going I hope you enjoy the London 2012 Olympics. On UK green technology, I will be happy to take any questions. 12

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