Access to Climate Change Technology by Developing Countries
A Practical Strategy
by Cynthia Cannady
Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development Series • Issue Paper 25
To view the Executive Summary, please click here.
Enhancing access to climate change technology by developing countries is a key element
of any effective international response to the global climate change challenge.
Since the Bali meeting, the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) has been the subject of increased attention in climate change discussions on technology transfer. The UNFCCC negotiating texts contain a widespectrum of options and proposals relating to IP which reflects a diversity of views on the subject.
In this context, this new ICTSD issue paper, Access to Climate Change Technology by Developing Countries: A Practical Strategy by Cynthia Cannady aims to contribute to these discussions by providing a much needed practical perspective on how these options and proposals would work “in the real world” and the extent to which they would effectively enable developing countries to gain greater access to climate change technologies.
The author, Cynthia Cannady, is founder of IP*SEVA, a law firm specializing in representation of sustainable energy technology ventures, and has extensive experience in technology licensing in addition to international policy work, as former director of the Intellectual Property and New Technologies Division at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
This paper critically examines various approaches that have been suggested for facilitating access to climate change technology by developing countries, including compulsory licensing, patent pools, patent databases and structured voluntary licensing “mechanisms”. The paper details the practical problems facing these approaches to achieve the expected results for developing countries.
Instead, it argues for a practical two-pronged strategy. The first prong is climate change technology innovation strategy (CCTIS), focusing on supporting climate change research and innovation in developing countries by developing country scientists. The second prong of the strategy is “win–win” development collaboration agreements for climate change technology between developed and developing country parties.
This paper was commissioned under the ICTSD Programme on IPRs and Sustainable Development as part of ICTSD’s Global Platform on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainable Energy, which is aimed specifically at contributing to effective international cooperation towards addressing climate change, by advancing analytical capacity of stakeholders and their interaction with policy-makers such that effective solutions can be built and agreed by the internationalcommunity at the Copenhagen COP-15, in December 2009.
The paper is available at http://ictsd.net/ and http://www.iprsonline.org/