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Heading west: AEA focuses on growing in the USA

AEA Technology is one of the largest players in the UK environmental consultancy sector, known for the instrumental role it has played in the development of climate change policy. Erin Gill speaks with Robert Bell, director of operations, and Daniel Waller, carbon management knowledge leader, about AEA’s enviable reputation and plans to sell its climate and energy expertise in the USA

07-Sep-09 

Erin Gill for Environment Analyst: AEA Technology has played a central role in the development of UK climate policy. How did the consultancy become such a significant player in this field?

Robert Bell, director of operations: Our strong position in the climate change consultancy marketplace, and our unusual size, goes back decades. In the 1970s, the UK government set up a new technical organisation in response to the oil price shocks of that period. The term energy security wasn’t used then, but that was the issue the government was facing. This new unit was created to help government understand, and to drive developments in, what we would today call sustainable energy, particularly renewable technologies.