Technology Development and Transfer in the Context of Climate Change Negotiations

1. Technology Development and Transfer in the Context of Climate Change Negotiations William Kojo Agyemang-Bonsu UNFCCC Focal Point/CDM-DNA Environmental Protection Agency Ghana At the Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment, 23 – 29 May 2009 UNON, Nairobi, Kenya

2. Outline • What are the things that we know? • Overview of the global negotiations on Development and Transfer of Technologies (DTT) under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol • DTT under the Bali Action plan • What should Africa Look out for under the Bali Action Plan? • Key Issues for Consideration • What could be Africa joint action for implementation of DTT?

3. Development and Transfer of Technologies: What are the things we know? • Investments in clean energy are growing fast, including new financial products and markets • There is substantial financing gap for the required scaling up technologies for both mitigation and adaptation • Private sector incentives must be reinforced • Africa has the greatest potential for all of the most favoured technologies in recent years: wind, solar, biofuels • Carbon markets (including CDM) can play important role but Africa is yet to see the benefits • Indigenous adaptation technologies already exist in Africa and need to be documented, scaled-up and diffused

4. Overview • The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol have paid attention to the need for development and transfer of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries, • For the purposes of enabling these countries to achieve advancement in their development whilst limiting their greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

5. Overview - What are in the UNFCCC and the KP on DTT? • The Article 4.1 (c) of the UNFCCC commits all Parties to the Convention to promote and cooperate in the development, application and diffusion, including transfer of technologies, practices and processes that control, reduce or prevent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol in all relevant sectors, including the energy transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management sectors.

6. Overview - What are in the UNFCCC and the KP on DTT? • Article 4.5 commits the developed country Parties and other developed Parties in Annex II to the Convention to “take all practicable steps to promote, facilitate and finance, as appropriate, the transfer of or access to, environmentally sound technologies and know-how to other Parties, particularly developing country Parties to enable them implement the provisions of the Convention….”

7. Overview - What are in the UNFCCCand the KP on DTT? • Article 4.7 states that “the extent to which developing countries under the Convention will effectively implement their commitments under the Convention will depend on the effective implementation by developed country Parties of their commitments under the Convention related to financial resources (Article 3.1) and transfer of technology (Article 4.5) and will take fully into account that economic and social development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country Parties”.

8. Overview - What are in the UNFCCC and the KP on DTT? • The Article 3.14 of the KP on commitments, acknowledges the need to minimize the adverse impacts of climate change on developing countries and notes among the “issues to be considered shall be the establishment of funding, insurance and technology transfer”. • Article 10.6(b) of KP recognises that adaptation technologies would improve adaptation to climate change.

9. Overview - What are in the UNFCCCand the KP on DTT? • Article 10.6 (c) of KP commits Parties to “cooperate in the promotion of effective modalities for the development, application and diffusion of, and take all practicable steps to promote, facilitate and finance practices and processes pertinent to climate change, in particular to developing countries including the formulation of policies and programmes for the effective transfer of environmentally sound technologies that are publicly owned or in the public domain and the creation of enabling environment for the private sector, to promote and enhance the transfer of access to, environmentally sound technologies.

10. Overview - What are in the UNFCCC and the KP on DTT? • Furthermore, Article 11.1 (b) of the KP commits developed countries Parties and other developed Parties in Annex II to the Convention to “provide financial resources, including the transfer of technology, needed by developing countries to meet the agreed full incremental costs of advancing the implementation of existing commitments under Article 4.1 of the Convention

11. Overview - What are in the UNFCCC and the KP on DTT? • The design of Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol i.e. Clean Development Mechanism should also lead to the transfer of environmentally sound technologies.

12. Overview - What do we See? • Several decisions have been made since the adoption of the UNFCCC and later the KP • In Marrakech, 2001 the Expert Group on Technology Transfer (EGTT) was established and with a 5-year mandate • EGTT was placed under the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) to provide advice and recommendations to SBSTA • The Special Climate Change Fund was also agreed upon – but with limited funds

13. Overview- The EGTT • Over the years (since 2001) EGTT has produced very good technical papers • But has not lived to the expectations of developing countries in terms of actual technology development and transfer to developing countries. Because the EGTT under the SBSTA has failed to addresses the following • The setting up of specific technology goals • Development of indicators and accounting systems to track progress on technology transfer? • Unable to undertake implementation actions under SBSTA because of the limitations of the SBSAT itself. • In 2006 in Nairobi, developing countries did not see the need to renew the mandate of the EGTT

14. Overview-EGTT • In Bali in 2007 an agreement was reached to renew the mandate of the EGTT • Now the EGTT reports both to the SBSTA and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). • The difference here is that Parties now recognize that implementation of the UNFCCC and the KP commitments on technology development and transfer has not been met and that there is the need to urgently address DTT implementation under SBI. • As a consequence the COP by its decision 4/CP.13 called the GEF to elaborate on a strategic programme to scale up investment in technology development and transfer.

15. DTT under the Bali Action Plan (BAP) • Decision 1/CP.13 - the BAP rightly recognizes again that development and transfer of technologies to developing countries as one of the means to support implementation of actions on mitigation and adaptation to climate change. • DTT is now one of the four major building blocks to be discussed and agreed upon in Copenhagen.

16. Achievements After Bali • Following from Bali (4/CP.13), the GEF has now elaborated a strategic programme aimed at scaling up development and transfer of technologies – the Poznan Strategic Programme • GEF has already issued a call for proposals (CFP) for pilot technology development and transfer projects – CFP closes in August 2009

17. Key issues under the Bali Action Plan on DTT • Effectiveness of tools & mechanisms for technology co-operation • Removal of barriers to promoting technology transfer including: • Financing • Intellectual property rights • Tariffs and non-tariffs • Capacity building • Ways to accelerate deployment, diffusion and transfer of technologies • Co-operation on research and development

18. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? • Call for the creation of an international framework agreement for technology development and transfer or new mechanism that addresses both mitigation and adaptation, in order to boost the effectiveness in innovation and investment required around the world to address climate change.

19. What Africa Should look for under the BAP • This DTT mechanism of framework agreement should: • Be informed by the shared vision for long-term cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions, to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention and the urgent need for adaptation to the impacts of climate change • Include an incentive package to scale up of development and transfer of technology to developing country Parties in order to promote access to affordable environmentally sound technologies through creation of additional value and crediting for participation in technology development, deployment, diffusion and transfer for greenhouse emissions reduction and enhanced resilience to impacts of climate change

20. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? • Incorporate an institutional mechanism and tools for supporting, supervising, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of agreed actions on technology development and transfer; • Provide for a compliance and enforcement regime for development and transfer of technologies linked to quantified emissions reduction and limitation commitments and increased resilience of communities and ecosystems to the impact of climate change • Support capacity building and capacity development in developing countries for technology development, adoption, deployment, diffusion and transfer including, inter alia, support for national systems of innovation

21. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? • Ensure improved access to new and additional, adequate, predictable, appropriate, equitable and sustainable public-sector financial resources and investments to support mitigation and adaptation and technology development and transfer and technology cooperation • Promote substantial private-sector participation, finance and investments in technologies for mitigation and adaptation • Ensure protection of intellectual property rights that guarantees access to and use of technologies by avoiding over-protectionism

22. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? • Ensure access to technology information, including in particular the costs and performance of technologies • Provide for international programme for joint or collaborative research, demonstration and early stage deployment of technologies • Provide guidance on national/domestic government policies needed to, notably creating a higher level of long-term policy certainty • (a) over future demands for low carbon technologies, upon which the private sector including the industry’s decision makers can rely, and • (b) for private financing of technologies for adaptation.

23. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? • Pay specific attention to the technology needs of (a) major emerging and big economies, (b) emerging but small developing economies, and (c) least developed countries, and (d) small island developing states; among developing countries • Promote and finance south-south cooperation • Support mechanism for early action on sector specific technology innovation, development, demonstration, massive deployment and transfer.

24. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? • Technology Development and Transfer Aspects of the Shared Vision • A medium to long-term vision for the entire technology cycle from innovation through to application and transfer be guided and driven by medium to long-term global goal based on: • Level of emission reductions, to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention • Quantum of technology development, deployment and diffusion required • Urgent need for adapting to the impacts of climate change • Level of finance and investment required • Extent of sectoral coverage, and • Level of participation by all technology development and transfer actors

25. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? • Incentive Package for Added Value and Crediting • In order to promote access to and use of affordable environmentally sound technologies there is the need to create additional value and crediting for participation in technology development, deployment, diffusion andtransfer. International mechanism could be put in place to assess and include an incentive package to scale up the development and transfer of technology to developing country Parties. • The international mechanism could lead to rewards/credits for participation in development and transfer climate friendly technologies through a link with Parties commitment in terms of quantified emission limitation and reduction obligations. • Promoting and providing direct incentives for technology programmes such as supporting international technology cooperative development networks, national policies/actions, certify credits for special and priority technology programmes, and managing long-term regulatory risk.

26. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? New Mechanismsfor a DTT – Institutional and Financial • The new mechanisms to operate under the authority and guidance of the COP and be accountable to it. It shall aim to achieve: • Accessibility, affordability, appropriateness and adaptability of technologies required by developing countries for enhanced action on mitigation and adaptation; • Provision of full costs and full incremental costs, as per Article 4.3 of the Convention; • Adequacy and predictability of funds for technology transfer; • Removal of barriers for technology development and transfer

27. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? Institutional Mechanism – Executive Body comprising and be supported by: • Strategic Planning Committee to: develop strategy; provide regular guidance; assess and elaborate technology-related matters; continuously evaluate progress; and develop updates for the Technology Action Plan, • Technical Panels to generate and compile current expert information related to: capacity building; policies and measures; intellectual property cooperation; sectoral, cross-sectoral, and cross cutting cooperation; assessment, monitoring and compliance; and other necessary topics. • Verification Group to verify the financial and technological contributions made to the mechanism in accordance with the overall “measurable, reportable, verifiable” requirement of Decision 1/CP.13. • Secretariat to support and facilitate the activities of the Executive Body.

28. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? Technology Action Plan • The Technology Action Plan should define specific policies, actions, and funding requirements for all relevant technologies under the following classifications: • Public domain technologies • Patented technologies. • Future technologies. • The Action Plan should support the establishment of national and regional technology centers of excellence and should reinforce north-south, south-south and triangular cooperation, including joint research and development.

29. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? Financial Mechanism - Multilateral Climate Technology Fund (MCTF) • This fund will provide technology-related financial requirements as determined by the Executive Body and will operate under the COP • The MCTF shall be financed, among others, by assessed contributions from Annex II Parties. Contributions to the mechanism shall be additional to other financial transfers to non-Annex I Parties and shall meet the costs incurred by such Parties. • An agreed proportion of contributions by developed country Parties and other Parties included in Annex II of the Convention to bilateral and regional co-operation may be considered as contributions to the MCTF, provided that such co-operation is consistent with the policies and scope of the mechanism.

30. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? Financial Mechanism - Multilateral Climate Technology Fund (MCTF) • Financial transfers to the MCTF shall be counted as measurable, reportable and verifiable commitments under para 1.b(ii) of the Bali Action Plan. Any funding not under the authority and guidance of the UNFCCC shall not be regarded as the fulfillment of commitments by developed countries under Art. 4.3 of the Convention or decision 1/CP.13. • The MCTF shall cover, inter alia, eligible costs of activities approved by the Executive Body; administrative costs of the Executive Body, Secretariat, and Trustee or Trustees; and costs associated with other specific decisions of the Conference of the Parties.

31. What Africa Should look for under the BAP? Financial Mechanism - Multilateral Climate Technology Fund (MCTF) • In the context of the enhanced multilateral financial mechanism proposed by the Group of 77 & China, the MCTF shall be managed by a Trustee or Trustees, selected through a process of open bidding, who shall have fiduciary responsibility and administrative competence to manage the MCTF, and shall hold in trust, the funds, assets, and receipts that constitute the fund, and shall comply with the principles and modalities for their management and disbursement as stipulated by the Conference of the Parties.

32. Key Issues for Considerations and Regional Strategy Development • What technology development and transfer issues being discussed in the negotiations are key challenges for African countries? • What are the key issues Africa needs to focus on? • What are the key sectors Africa needs to focus on for DTT? • What can the AMCEN and for that matter AU, ECA an other regional institutions do to support actions by African Countries on DTT? • Does Africa require a regional technology action plan that covers both mitigation and adaptation technology needs, if yes which regional institution leads and host it? • How quickly can Africa move to low emissions economies? • What policy approach is needed in the Africa to accelerate technology transfer (climate only, or additional instruments?)

33. Key Issues for Considerations and Regional Strategy Development • What level of investments are required for sustainable technologies development and transfer within Africa? • How will Africa address the issue of intellectual property rights? • What form of international R&D co-operation should take place, should it be inside Convention or outside? • What should be the role and ultimate scope of carbon markets and CDM in DTT? • What incentive mechanisms should be put in place to stimulate private sector participation in DTT to Africa? • What institutional arrangements should be put in place both at the national, sub-regional & international level?

34. Proposed Elements for Africa Joint Action Plan for Implementation of DTT • Action plan for Technology development, deployment, diffusion and transfer for mitigation and adaptation in Africa • Legislative instruments • Institutional Arrangements • For example, formation of Africa Technical Expert Panel on DTT (TOR to be developed, but should include identification and development of bankable sector-wide projects across member states) • Capacity development dimensions • Development of a marshal plan including partnership/collaboration platforms, private sector engagement and monitoring and evaluation schemes • Funding mechanisms

35. Proposed Elements for Africa Joint Action Plan for Implementation of DTT • Support mechanism for policy formulation including international negotiations • Development of technical papers by experts within the sub-region, may be by Africa Technical Expert Panel on DTT • Assist member countries to develop the necessary “pull” mechanisms or enabling environment • Support harmonization of regional DTT policy frameworks • Support and develop regional positions on DTT

36. Thank You Contact details: wkabonsu@gmail.com wbonsu@4u.com.gh wbonsu@epaghana.org