Global energy demand is rising, especially in emerging and developing countries, and it can be expected to continue on an upward path for the foreseeable future - even with heroic delivery of energy efficiency improvements. The importance of expanding access to electricity for the 1.5 billion who lack access today is increasingly recognised; indeed, without a step-change in the investment to address this problem, in 2030 there would still be 1.3 billion people in this situation,1 which is surely unacceptable. The challenges are daunting. Energy must be accessible and affordable, contribute to the well-being of people and the environment, and enhance economic growth now and for the future. Policymakers must accommodate these multiple requirements while reducing the carbon intensity of energy and addressing this "trilemma" of energy sustainability. Carbon pricing is probably the most important single measure to address the need for a stable policy which incentivises investment in clean technologies. More national or regional moves to encourage low-carbon investment by valuing carbon are urgently needed. This must be accompanied by other instruments which are well aligned with the carbon pricing framework. This article addresses four key drivers of low-carbon growth, applicable in both developed and developing countries. ?Pictured: Hydro transmitting towers in the Republic of Korea.ENERGY SECURITY 047

policyGovernments need to set frameworks that enable markets to deliver; as well as to plan strategically for national or regional infrastructure needed to deliver it. Government interventions may create uncertainty and unintended consequences, so policymakers must be sensitive to this and try to manage it with stable, long-term, transparent policymaking. As highlighted in the World Energy Council's (WEC) 2011 Assessment of country energy and climate policies, policy must be evidence-based and rooted in robust, independent analysis of the issues it seeks to address and of the original objectives of the policy intervention. Transparency is vital to help business and consumers to understand the trade-offs that may be involved in adopting specific policies and their broader implications. This should also imply high standards of consultation and public engagement. This is to ensure that draft policies are subjected to rigorous and broad-based assessment, as well as giving those who will be affected by them enough notice to prepare themselves to adapt and comply.Finally, implementation of the policy must be monitored to ensure that it is delivering as intended, including ensuring consistency across policy dossiers. Here it is vital that governments are able to balance the need to provide markets with long-term policy stability against the necessary flexibility to adapt and change policies that are clearly failing. innovationSupportive and stable policy frameworks and the development of open markets, supported by legal frameworks to encourage competition and innovation (by protecting intellectual property) will be key to attracting investment. Support for education in mathematics, science and engineering in schools and universities is essential for the future R&D breakthroughs that will help draw in more investment. Policy needs to be tailored to support the whole innovation chain, including: n invention - funding support for basic research in universities and encouragement of international collaboration;n collaboration - encouraging collaboration between research organisations and the private sector to take inventions out of the lab and turn them into products and services;n competition - supporting competition in product innovation, especially through protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), and developing regulatory frameworks to drive product development and lower costs.IPR encourages firms to value innovation. This is critical not just for companies, but for emerging and developing economies as they build knowledge-driven, high value-added economies and industries. It is also critical to achieving climate change and energy security goals, which cannot be accomplished without massive private sector engagement. Continuous innovation will be essential - but companies must know they will benefit from the large investments R&D which often has to precede innovation.For example, the WEC policy assessment report highlighted the role of energy efficiency programmes including labelling schemes such as the US Energy Star programme. This voluntary labelling scheme for household products and commercial building equipment is widely considered to be a success, not only delivering substantial energy savings and emissions reductions but also important technological innovations, such as efficient fluorescent lighting, power management systems for office equipment, and low standby energy use. This programme or similar ones have been adopted in a number of other regions and countries including the EU, Japan, Canada and Australia. transformational technologiesInnovation can help us deliver both lower emissions and broader access, specifically via two transformational technologies: carbon capture and storage (CCS) and smart grid technology. According to the latest World Energy Outlook 2011 from the IEA, CCS accounts for 18 per cent of emissions savings under the 450ppm scenario, but delaying the deployment of CCS by 10 years would increase the cost of achieving the 450ppm scenario by $1.14 trillion, or 8 per cent more than with timely deployment. For timely deployment, the IEA's CCS Roadmap projects that 3,400 CCS plants will be needed globally by 2050; by that time, developing countries need to account for 64 per cent of all captured carbon dioxide emissions. If these nations are not encouraged and assisted to adopt the cleanest technologies at this crucial stage of their development, they will 'lock-in' sources of carbon dioxide emissions for decades to come. That means developing supportive policy frameworks and providing capital funding support as well as ongoing support through feed-in tariffs or similar measures. Above all, there must be faster progress in rolling out CCS demonstrations to move towards deployment as soon as possible after 2020. Good energy policy should also enhance and increase mechanisms that incentivise energy efficiency in the power generation, transmission, and distribution context. Regulators should consider approving rate recovery or implementing other kinds of recovery mechanisms to incentivise energy " There is no single instrument which can drive the attainment of all three goals of the policy trilemma - energy security, access to affordable energy, and environmental impact mitigation "048 ENERGY SECURITY