A high CRI white light emitting device comprises: a blue solid state light emitter (LED) operable to generate blue light; a phosphor material operable to absorb a portion of the blue light and to emit green/yellow light and a red solid state light emitter (LED) operable to generate red light. The emission product of the device comprises the combined light generated by the blue and red LEDs and green/yellow light generated by the phosphor material and appears white in color. The device further comprises a drive circuit operable to compensate for variation in the ratio (relative contribution) of red to blue light in the emission product such as to ensure that said variation is less than 20% over an operating temperature range of at least 25° C. The drive circuit can reduce variation in the CRI and CCT of the device's emission product over the operating temperature range.