Effectively addressing climate change through mitigation and adaptation calls for the scaling up of innovation, diffusion, and transfer of pertinent technologies. Responding to the impact of climate change and enabling a transition to a low-carbon economy demands an exhaustive exploration of all possible mechanisms and legal and business models concerned; as well as a solid understanding of enabling regulatory frameworks, including those for intellectual property. So far, much of the discussion has lacked a solid empirical basis and an informed policy perspective. This is precisely the gap on which ICTSD’s Global Platform focuses in the field of technology.
As an informal mechanism, ICTSD‘s Initiative on Climate Technology and Trade assembles prominent experts and policy makers to develop a research agenda and identify gaps and priorities through the following activities:
- the examination of relevant mechanisms of transfer of technology;
- the identification of enabling obstacles and potential points of intervention; and
- the articulation of measures that could be considered in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change context.
The initiative strives to generate solutions-focused and policy-oriented outcomes. To this end, the United Nations Environment Programme, the European Patent Office, and ICTSD joined forces to deliver by the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen a patent landscape in the area of energy generation, a survey of licensing practices in the same area, and, ultimately, a database containing patent information on green technologies. Post-Copenhagen, the group will pursue a similar undertaking with respect to other sectors (i.e.: buildings and construction and transport).
Please click here for a full illustrative brochure on ICTSD’s Initiative on Climate Technology and Trade.
Research and Analysis:
Fostering the Development and Diffusion of Technologies for Climate Change: Lessons from the CGIAR Model, by Carlos M. Correa, ICTSD Programme on IPRs and Sustainable Development, Policy Brief No. 6, December 2009.
Technologies for Climate Change and Intellectual Property: Issues for Small Developing Countries, ICTSD Programme on Intellectual Property Rights and Sustainable Development, Information Note No. 12, October 2009
Access to Climate Change Technology by Developing Countries: A Practical Strategy, by Cynthia Cannady, ICTSD Programme on Intellectual Property Rights and Sustainable Development, Issue Paper No. 25, September 2009
Innovation and Technology Transfer to Address Climate Change: Lessons from the Global Debate on Intellectual Property and Public Health, by Frederick M. Abbott, ICTSD Programme on Intellectual Property Rights and Sustainable Development, Issue Paper No. 24, June 2009
Climate Change, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Rights, by ICTSD, Background Paper to the Trade and Climate Change Seminar, 18–20 June 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark, August 2008
Intellectual Property and Access to Clean Energy Technologies in Developing Countries: An Analysis of Solar Photovoltaic, Biofuel and Wind Technologies, by John H. Barton, ICTSD Programme on Trade and Environment, Trade and Sustainable Energy Series, Issue Paper No. 2, December 2007 (relevant publication)
New Trends in Technology Transfer: Implications for National and International Policy, by John H. Barton, ICTSD Programme on IPRs and Sustainable Development, Issue Paper No. 18, February 2007 (relevant publication)
Encouraging International Technology, by Keith E. Maskus, ICTSD Programme on IPRs and Sustainable Development, UNCTAD-ICTSD Project on IPRs and Sustainable Development, Issue Paper No. 7, May 2004 (relevant publication)
Policy Dialogues:
Dialogue on “Transfer of Climate Change Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities at Copenhagen and Beyond”, alongside the UNFCCC COP 15 negotiations, 16 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
UNFCCC Side Event on “Patents and Clean Energy: Bridging the Gap between Evidence and Policy”, co-organised with UNEP and EPO, side event alongside the UNFCCC COP 15 negotiations, Bella Center room 3, 18 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Investment: Insights for the Negotiations from the Trade and Climate Change Body of Research, side event alongside the UNFCCC negotiations, 3 November, Barcelona, Spain
Climate Change, Technology Transfer and IPRs: Recent Developments and the Way Forward, side event alongside the UNFCCC negotiations, 11 June, Bonn, Germany
Meeting of the Expert Group under The ICTSD Initiative on Climate Technology and Trade, alongside the UNFCCC negotiations, 8 June, Bonn, Germany
Climate Change, Transfer of Technology and IPRs: The Challenge of Evidence-based Policy, side event at the WIPO Standing Committee on Patents (SCP), 27 March 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
Innovation and Diffusion of Climate Technologies: What Role for WIPO?, side event at the WIPO Standing Committee on Patents (SCP), 24 March 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
A post-2012 Technology and Finance Framework: Opportunities and Challenges, co-organised with the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), and Sussex University, side event alongside the UNFCCC COP 14, 5 December 2008, Poznan, Poland
Scaling-up Energy Efficiency and Access to Clean Energy Technologies: Options for International Cooperation, co-organised with the International Energy Agency (IEA), UNEP and the Danish Ministry of the Environment, 5 December 2007, Bali, Indonesia
Intellectual Property and Access to Clean Energy Technologies in Developing Countries - An Analysis of Solar Photovoltaic, Biofuel and Wind Technologies, 22 October 2007, Geneva, Switzerland