Climate targets jeopardized by lack of technology transfer

Although the developing countries receive support from the industrialized nations in establishing low-carbon energy systems, the technology transfer also promised under the Paris Climate Agreement is insufficient. This is the central finding of a study by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. IASS in Potsdam, Germany.
Industrialized countries hold most of the patents for the relevant technologies and »only share their knowledge when it is beneficial for them,« says Andreas Goldthau, who prepared the study with his colleague Silvia Weko. China, he says, is » the only emerging market that has successfully attracted technology transfer through foreign direct investment,« because Western companies wanted to tap into the huge Chinese market and were therefore willing to share. Therefore, this example is not transferable to other countries.
Of 71 international initiatives promoting the transfer of low-carbon technologies that Weko and Goldthau examined for their study, only 26 address the issue of technology transfer. However, it is imperative to increase activities, because otherwise developing and emerging countries will continue to use predominantly fossil technologies and thus miss their climate targets. It is imperative that industrialized countries »keep their funding promises and provide greater support to the United Nations Climate Technology Center and Network,« according to an IASS statement.
The study, »Bridging the low-carbon technology gap? Assessing energy initiatives for the Global South« is published in »Energy Policy« and is available for free download (via the IASS press release, see link below).
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