• Mitigation

Climate change mitigation

Development and transfer of climate-friendly technologies is an important element in the adaptation strategy. The need for new technologies to face the challenge of global climate change is obvious. The Bali Action Plan recognises the crucial role of technology and highlights the importance of technological development, transfer and use of technologies. In the negotiations on a global climate treaty the developing nations have put forth ideas and plans to ensure that intellectual property rights (IPRs) do not become a barrier to transfer of climate friendly technology.

The paper shows that in many technologies, IPRs can become a barrier to access and transfer of technologies to developing countries. It also shows that patents with wide scope and proliferation of patents, particularly on basic technologies in technologies like biofuels, can affect wider dissemination and transfer of technology. It argues that although developing countries have made some progress, the dominance of developed countries in terms of patents, royalty and licensing income and expenditure on Research and Development remains a barrier to technology transfer technology absorption.

The report gives an example of the Montreal Protocol which has been successful and relevant in the context of climate change. Under this protocol, a fund was set up for transfer of technology and capacity building in developing nations so that Ozone Destroying Substances (ODS) can be phased out and the alternatives can be put to use to meet the deadlines under the Protocol. It further discusses the Green Revolution and open source models as other examples of successful technology development and transfer. Under the Green Revolution many centers were established for crop development, plant breeding and the technology was transferred without IPRs to developing countries. Open Source models and Distributed Innovation such as Eco-Patent Commons has also facilitated technology transfer.

The paper recommends that:

• patent pools of relevant technologies can be created so that countries will be able to get licenses without dealing with too many parties
• a global R&D alliance needs to be explored
• developing nations need to carry out technology assessment and patent landscaping
• need for South-South co-operation and joint development of technologies like biofuels and wind energy to offset the dominant position of firms in developed countries
• developing nations and UN need to study some of the proposals including proposals that advocate replicating the Fund under Montreal Protocol to examine their feasibility and viability
• there is an urgent need for theoretical and empirical work to understand the relationship between IPRs in different technologies, emerging technological trends and their impacts on transfer of technology.

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