Intensifying and reorienting transfer of low carbon technologies for climate change prevention

Their implementation will determine the success of a global agreement on climate change in 2015, and this is the task of the Technology Mechanism, created in 2010. This policy brief sets out the principal results of a study commissioned from the MINES ParisTech Industrial Economics Centre (CERNA). The study shows that, unlike China, Mexico, South Africa and, to a lesser extent, Brazil, India is currently left out of international flows of low carbon technologies transfer – it is therefore a top priority, as is the rest of developing Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.

To intensify these transfers, ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies need to be implemented and absorptive capacities need to be created in countries that receive such technologies. In emerging countries, which possess a genuine capacity for innovation, and which are involved in international trade, the strengthening of intellectual property rights and the lowering of barriers to trade and investment are to be recommended. However, in the least developed countries, emphasis must be placed on technology absorptive capacities and in particular on the development of a qualified labour force.