Simon Roberts
Contents
Biographical Information
"Simon began working in sustainable energy in 1985 as a volunteer for Bristol Energy Centre, a trading company of the Urban Centre for Appropriate Technology, as CSE was then known. He soon took up the role of coordinating the Centre's energy advice service and developed its energy awareness training.
"He then moved to Friends of the Earth (FoE), where he spent five years leading its national energy campaign, developing in particular its work on renewables and energy efficiency. In 1989 he co-authored, with Professor Tim Jackson, FoE's ground-breaking report, Getting Out of the Greenhouse, which included the UK's first carbon emissions abatement cost-curve. He then moved into more practical work as Business Development Director for The Energy Club. With the demise of this innovative energy services company, he set up and led his own energy consultancy, Energy Initiatives.
"During his four years as Commercial Manager and Head of Personal Banking for Triodos Bank, Simon arranged renewable energy project finance, acted as Managing Director of its renewable energy investment fund, and was lead corporate finance advisor to the first share issue of The Ethical Property Company Plc. He also helped the Bank secure two Guardian & Observer Consumer Finance Awards.
"Simon has a BA (Hons) in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford. He was elected a Fellow of the Energy Institute in 2007 and of the RSA in 2009. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Society for the Environment in 2011. Simon received an OBE for services to renewable energy in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours...
"He became CSE's Chief Executive in 2002 after two previous spells at CSE punctuated by five years running Friends of the Earth's national energy campaign and senior management roles at the leading European ethical bank, Triodos Bank...Simon is non-executive Chair of the Board of Triodos Renewables Plc, the UK’s most owned renewable energy investment fund, with a community of more than 5,000 shareholders. He has been a non-executive director of the company since 2009.
"Simon is a specialist advisor to a wide range of government and academic bodies, including Ofgem (where he sits on its Consumer Challenge Group), the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and Universities of Cardiff, Exeter, Sussex and East Anglia. He served on the Government’s Renewables Advisory Board between 2002 - 2010 where he led work on financing issues and on community engagement. In March 2013 he was appointed as a topic expert for the NICE Public Health Advisory Committee tasked with developing health sector guidance on tackling excess winter deaths and the health impacts of cold homes."[1]
Affiliations
- Trustee, Centre for Sustainable Energy
