How do LCD innovations differ?: Challenges and specificities of low carbon technologies and energy systems

Low Carbon Development (LCD) implies to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere and to foster inclusive development. This requires systemic innovations, which can lead to disruptive changes, and the build-up of capabilities to enhance the innovations. LCD offers opportunities to reduce energy costs and to export low-carbon solutions. Various specificities constitute a lock-in into the existing fossil fuel based energy system: technological specificities of grid based infrastructure systems, dependence on regulation to overcome market failures, and the political economy of the energy innovation system. There are also systemic reasons why decisions routines for energy related decisions adapt very slowly to new challenges. The empirical analysis indicates that there is considerable heterogeneity among the countries with regard to their starting positions to overcome the various obstacles and to build the comparative advantages which will enable them to supply the global markets with low carbon technologies.