Our experience

We work internationally, collaborating with organisations such as General Electric and the UK Government, on their clean technology innovation activities.

Carbon Trust has catalysed more than £123million of private-sector co-investment into pre-commercial technologies through focused programmes that de-risk their commercialisation. Examples of our impact to date include:

• Deployment of a novel foundation in consortium with eight UK Offshore Wind developers to deliver a 10% reduction in the cost of delivered energy for offshore wind
• Securing a $5million partnership with General Electric to identify, assess and nurture start-up businesses across Europe
• Identifying opportunities for up to 29% reduction in energy bills through process innovation across a range of sectors, from dairy to metal-forming

We have assessed more than 3,500 low carbon start-ups to find the most promising technologies and ideas.

How we can help 

We work with:

Industry – We run joint industry projects with corporates and universities to solve technical challenges, supporting collaborative technology development

Government – We engage governments and funding bodies around the world to realise entrepreneurial approaches

Corporates – We support strategy development and execution

Innovators – We identify, incubate and invest in early stage companies to fast track their commercialisation

We support our clients along every stage of bringing clean technologies to market:

We work with governments, investors and corporates to understand their goals, available resource, economic drivers and market structures to determine which technologies are most likely to succeed and yield returns.

Examples include:

• Supporting the UK Government to prioritise which low carbon technologies to invest in to achieve emissions reduction targets and economic growth through the Technology Innovation Needs Assessment process
• Demonstrating cost-reduction opportunities for the offshore wind sector through focused R&D in specific technology systems (Foundations, Access, Electrical Connections, and Wake Effects) 

In co-operation with our clients, Carbon Trust lays out potential activities in the sector and defines specific objectives and timescales. We then select the most suitable approach, from consortia to competitions, to overcome barriers holding back the technologies in question. We structure tailored programmes to tackle the barriers, de-risk innovation and catalyse investment.

Throughout the process, we identify potential project partners and funding sources to enhance the likelihood of success. 

We understand how to deliver innovation through a broad range of activities. We have expertise in negotiating, contracting and setting up necessary structures, running targeted global competitions to source the best innovations and convening consortia of major industrial players to share research and development costs.

We catalyse clean tech venture growth through our incubation advice including market prioritisation, business development, strategy and planning, team development, and investment readiness support.

We advise on creating commercial vehicles to best incentivise teams, and have set up and invested in ventures across the clean tech sector.  

For business, government, and other professional investors, we also arrange and advise on investments in innovative low-carbon companies. More information on the regulated investment activities carried out by the Carbon Trust’s subsidiary, Carbon Trust Ventures Ltd, is available on our investments page.

Some examples of our current work

Find out more about our current work in the following areas:

Offshore Wind Accelerator
Clean technology incubation and venture support
Marine Farm Accelerator
Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme
Polymer Fuel Cells Challenge

Get in touch

If you are interested in any of the services above then get in touch - fill in our contact form or give us a call on +44 (0)20 7832 4807.