The world can save an estimated US$550 billion on the cost of deploying clean energy technologies over the next decade if countries work together to accelerate innovation by unlocking global collaboration. This is one of the key findings in a new report, United Innovations: cost-competitive clean energy through global collaboration, published by the Carbon Trust, with funding from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Prosperity Fund.

Most technologies needed for the transition to a low carbon energy system already exist, but costs need to be reduced and deployment accelerated to have any chance of meeting 2050 climate targets. Global collaboration can help, but it has proven extremely difficult to generate real momentum for action.

Over the past two decades there have been hundreds of bilateral and multilateral commitments on low carbon technology innovation. Some have delivered success but the overall impact has been less than expected. In many cases the original intentions behind agreements have been lost and implementation has been limited.

Tags: The Carbon Trust