A small step but a big leap: Cancun agrees on tech transfer

An agreement has been reached on creating a new international technology-sharing mechanism.

In the first major breakthrough to emerge at the climate change conference in Cancun,an agreement has been reached on creating a new international technology-sharing mechanism that will enable countries,especially poor and the most vulnerable ones,to have easy and cost-effective access to technologies needed to deal with adverse impacts of climate change.

This technology-sharing agreement is one of the several at least six building blocks that will make up the overarching international climate treaty that is being negotiated for many years now but not expected to be completed in Cancun. The others,like an agreement over greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for rich and industrialised countries,or a financial mechanism,are still far away from any decision.

As a result and because it can function in isolation the technology mechanism would remain non-operational till the other building blocks are finalised,possibly in Durban next year,leading to an international climate treaty.

Even the mechanism that has been agreed upon with India playing a lead role is not entirely complete. It does not address the issues of intellectual property rights IPRs because of which patented technologies would remain out of the purview of this mechanism for the time being. Also,since the financial mechanism,a separate building block under negotiation,is yet to be agreed upon,the funding for this new technology-sharing framework is yet to be decided.

Still,it is a big leap for the beleaguered climate talks,considering the fact that it is the first concrete result on any of the six building blocks that were outlined in the Bali Action Plan three years ago. Access to climate-friendly technologies at affordable cost to poor and vulnerable countries is considered to be one of the most essential steps in enabling these countries to deal with climate change.

The system,as it has been agreed,would consist of a two-tier structure: a multilateral Technology Executive Council,which will be sort of a governing body that will lay down policy guidelines and identify relevant technologies,and a network of several institutes all over the world that would actually develop or customise these technologies to suit the demands of a particular country or region.

There will also be a Climate Technology Centre,a facilitating agency that will act as the interface between the country demanding a technology and the institute that would be asked to develop it.