U.K.-California Green Alliance on Global Warming Leverages Investment in Climate Change Tech

Issue: 
Mike Rosenfeld

The collaborative efforts of the United Kingdom and California have been an early success of the fight against global warming. While the public stage for cooperation has been set with much fanfare, both governments have begun to implement the practices that are setting an example for the rest of the world. With the aim of fostering productive cooperation, the British government established the U.K. Trade and Investment office at the British consulate in Los Angeles. VerdeXchange News was pleased to speak with Vice Consul Mike Rosenfeld, who is helping green tech companies integrate their efforts on both sides of the pond.

 

The U.K. Trade and Investment Office focuses on clean tech investment in Britain and abroad. Why is the British Consulate office in Los Angeles the home for your trade work?

California is leading the nation in clean technology investment, clean technology development, products and services, and clean tech policy. It was therefore no surprise that U.K. Trade and Investment established the clean tech sector in the British Consulate-General in Los Angeles.
Our organization, U.K. Trade and Investment, is an international business development agency run by the British government. We assist British companies that are looking to sell their products, services, and technologies into the United States. And we work with American companies that are looking to expand into the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.

Our process here in Los Angeles is designed to provide a variety of services on the trade side, and those services are offered on a fee basis to British companies. We may conduct research; we may help identify distributors, sales representatives, pricing, or markets; we provide a variety of consulting advice on how they should sell into the United States.

For American companies that are looking to invest and set up operations into the United Kingdom, we can help them identify particular regions with strengths in the various sectors that they are interested in. We work closely with regional development agencies in the United Kingdom that can provide local assistance and serve as our eyes and ears on the ground in particular regions and devolved administrations in the United Kingdom. We help companies set up company registration, bank accounts, visas, financing, and market opportunities. We also have assisted companies interested in listing on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on the London Stock Exchange. We provide these services to make a U.S. company’s entry into the United Kingdom as easy as possible, and all of our services are provided to U.S. companies free of charge and on a confidential basis.

What expertise does the U.K. clean tech office provide to American companies looking to invest in Britain?

In cases of certain companies, we have helped them identify particular regions of the United Kingdom where there is especially strong infrastructure, resources, or supply chain for their business. For example, where wind power might come into play, where there are centers of excellence in research and development, and where commercialization is taking place or there might be a cluster of companies working in the sector. They may be around universities or around public-private partnerships. For example, the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) is located in the North East in Blythe, near Newcastle. NaREC has specializations in wind, development in marine energy, and high voltage electricity. It is an excellent facility where companies can perfect their technologies and do further research and development. NaREC can also help commercialize and certify those technologies for the market in the United Kingdom and Europe.
 

What services do you provide for British tech companies looking to find a niche in American markets, such as California?

We provide a variety of services for U.K. companies. Probably the most typical would be what we call Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS). It’s a flexible type of service that we offer British companies to help them identify potential customers or distributors, markets, and business opportunities in the United States.

We recently assisted a U.K. company that offers energy efficiency products, services, and technologies by identifying building owners or managers and industry organizations that would be interested in such products and services. In this case, the British company may have a service offering or technology that can be placed onto the building to reduce the building’s electricity usage and overall carbon footprint.

The kind of information we are able to provide to a U.K. exporter is invaluable to companies that don’t know the market well, and we can identify the best channels into the United States.

Tom Friedman argues that “the world is flat” and that green is the next frontier. Is the U.K. Trade and Investment Office finding this to be true? If so, how are governments and your office helping private companies take advantage of new markets? And is your work today different than it was a decade ago?

Absolutely. I think policy—both in the United Kingdom and as it is developing in the United States—is certainly driving it. The climate change agenda focusing on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has been at the center of the policy. But also the notion of energy security and energy supply—the price of oil and the source of that oil being a question mark in many people’s minds—has driven the need for clean technologies and alternative energy. The United Kingdom has had effective and strong policies in place, and a lot of good technology comes out of the United Kingdom that is being spread throughout the world.

There are also technologies here in the United States that companies are sharing with the rest of the world; the United Kingdom is an important market for wind turbines, as an example. There are few, if any, homegrown U.K. wind turbine companies, so there is an excellent opportunity in the United Kingdom for overseas wind turbine manufacturing and assembly.

Elaborate on the role consulates are playing globally to take advantage of the explosive growth in green technologies. How does the Los Angeles office contribute to trade & investment?

Most relevant to us at U.K. Trade and Investment are the business opportunities for both U.K. and U.S. companies. We organize missions from the United Kingdom into the United States for British companies to identify opportunities to sell their products and services. We had our first mission to Los Angeles in 2004. We’ve done missions to the Southwest United States that have focused on wind and solar. We recently had another mission to Los Angeles for a group of companies just this past March, focusing on solar, biofuels, and marine energy.

Typically the missions are associated with a presence at the PowerGen Renewable Energy Conference & Exhibition, which takes place every year. The United Kingdom has typically had a U.K. Trade & Investment-sponsored pavilion, which brings U.K. companies to showcase their products and services. Also, companies have the opportunities to speak in panel sessions at the conference. We’ve organized those types of events to help U.K. companies and to help promote trade between the United Kingdom and the United States.

What was gained from your recent clean tech mission to Southern California?

We think the companies that gained the most from this last trip focused particularly in solar, wind, biomass, and biofuels opportunities. Companies that participated were actual developers, service companies, and technology companies. Across the board, the companies identified opportunities to sell their products into the California and wider U.S. market. Some of them are already starting to take shape with demonstration projects in the state.

It appears that California and Los Angeles have established their own diplomatic relationships with the U.K. What is the significance of the climate change meeting last year involving Prime Minister Blair, Governor Schwarzenegger, and Mayor Villaraigosa?

Leadership is critical. Prime Minister Blair, Governor Schwarzenegger, and Mayor Villaraigosa are showing leadership in recognizing that climate change is an important issue that requires more than just lip service. There is recognition for the need to take steps to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. These leaders are creating policies to encourage the use of alternative fuels and renewable energy technologies; the places where that is happening are in California and the United Kingdom. That is why the U.K.-California collaborative partnership has been so successful. Obviously, the rest of the nation is taking notice. We think California and the United Kingdom have led the way for the rest of the United States to adopt the climate change policy issues and clean technologies.

What are regulators and policy makers in Britain and California learning from one another about using public policy to reduce carbon emissions and encourage investments in green tech?

I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned. The change begins with policy. AB 32 is an excellent example of legislation that is going to drive curbs on greenhouse gas emissions. The lessons learned in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe will ultimately help propel the carbon trading market.

AB 32 is the legislation, so next we need to look at the mechanisms for emissions trading. The European trading market is in place and offers some lessons for California. In fact, we will be organizing an event in July to follow up on the U.K.-California climate change summit between Prime Minister Blair and Governor Schwarzenegger last year. That event will cover what steps have been taken, and where we go from here. We will be addressing the actual carbon trading mechanism that will be proposed in the states.

If you are again willing to be interviewed by VerdeXchange at the end of this year, what topics and successes would you expect to discuss?

I think we will be talking about the development of the carbon trading market, probably a cap and trade approach, as well as growth of renewable technologies and the contribution that British technologies will be making, not just in California but also in the rest of the United States. And I think we will be talking about the opportunities for U.S. companies that have set up in the United Kingdom because it is such an ideal market for renewable energy and a stepping-stone into Europe. I think you will continue to see major U.S. players stepping into the U.K. market because it is an attractive gateway for what is happening in the European Union.