Entrepreneurs are unable to effectively bring new low-carbon products to market due to a lack of government support and poor communication in helping businesses bridge the so-called ‘valley of death’ between technology readiness and commercial deployment.
Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee Tim Yeo said: “We were surprised and disappointed to hear businesses and academic partners, among others, express continual frustration at the lack of consultation surrounding the Government’s new low-carbon strategy.”
The report found that little had changed in the four years since the National Audit Office (NAO) criticised DECC for failing to support firms developing new low-carbon products.
The committee found that resources and funds allocated by the Government to support companies did not match its ambitions for low-carbon development.
“These innovators could hold the key to getting the UK over the line on our carbon emissions targets, but it’s going to be much harder for them to do that without better co-ordination to get us all pulling in the same direction and making better use of limited public funds,” Yeo added.
The report found that the Low Carbon Innovation Co-ordination Group in DECC was poorly resourced, leaving the sector without effective Government support for new innovations.
DECC also admitted that a lack of staff resources has prevented it from engaging on EU issues, such as helping UK innovators access EU funding and shaping European standards for low-carbon products and energy efficiency devices.