This report presents lessons for low-carbon innovation from the new wave of environmental pioneers.

Key recommendations

• Government should see itself as an enabler, providing an enabling policy framework within which low-carbon innovation can flourish
• Government should find new ways to talk to and learn from low-carbon innovators and entrepreneurs
• Government needs to create spaces for experimentation
• Government needs to rethink the way that it funds innovation
• Energy markets should be reformed to create better incentives for innovation

We need disruptive forms of innovation – cheaper, easier-to-use alternatives to existing products or services often produced by non-traditional players that target previously ignored customers.

Alongside new technologies, this means recognising the importance of wider forms of innovation, such as innovation in organisational forms and business models.

This report tells the stories of eight "disrupters".

Authors

Rebecca Willis, Molly Webb, James Wilsdon