Roadblock

Technology transfer and development to fight climate change brought China into the limelight at a two-day international forum held in Beijing recently.

The Forum on Climate Change and Science and Technology Innovation, organized by Ministry of Science and Technology, invited more than 600 representatives from United Nations (UN) bodies, international non-governmental organizations, scientific research centers and businesses.

Technology development and transfer, together with mitigation, adaptation, and finance and investment, serve as "four pillars" for the Bali Roadmap, considered heir apparent to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

"A breakthrough on technology development and transfer talk will decide whether the whole negotiation on Bali Roadmap was successful or not," said Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), also China's top negotiator to the two-week UN Climate Change Conference held late last year in Bali, Indonesia.

The Conference brought together more than 10,000 participants, including representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. The conference culminated in the adoption of the Bali Roadmap, which consists of a number of decisions that represent the various tracks that are essential to reaching a secure climate future. The Bali Roadmap includes the Bali Action Plan, which charts the course for a new negotiating process designed to tackle climate change, with the aim of completing this by 2009.

Xie made proposals at the forum about speeding up technology transfer, which is in badly needed by developing countries, like China and India, to nurture a low-carbon economy.

"Mitigating climate change has to be carried on the base of sustainable development," he said. "Especially for developing countries. They cannot stop economic growth. Developing a low-carbon economy is the only way for them to push the economy and save the environment hand in hand."

Xie called for the UN to set up a special panel in charge of technology innovation and transfer, including money pooling and an assessment of the effectiveness of technology transfer.

Rich countries should not only encourage technology transfer through financial incentives to their technology developers, but by also providing training and piloting programs, according to Xie's proposal.

Zou Ji, professor of Renmin University of China and also one of Chinese delegates to the UN negotiation on climate change, says: "It is the first time that China officially made the proposal on technology transfer to the UN. The Chinese delegation will take efforts to push Xie's proposal into the succeeded international agreement on climate change after 2012."

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), says that technology transfer is one of the most important factors in the international agreement. De Boer says there are a number of options for reducing carbon emissions and employing low carbon energy supplies that can make major contributions to the goal of low-emission economic growth.

And the UN Scientific Body on Climate Change, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change says that stabilization levels of greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved with a variety of technologies that are either currently available or expected to be commercialized in coming decades, assuming appropriate financial and policy incentives exist.

Therefore, in Xie's proposals, such incentives by wealthy countries were strongly stressed.

The issues of technology transfer and low carbon emission have been hotly debated at international talks on climate change. Developing countries keep complaining that the current transfers are far from enough, while the developed countries take a slower, conservative approach in the name of protecting intellectual property rights.

Xie says there has been no substantial progress since the issue of technology transfer was written into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 15 years ago.

Li Junfeng, deputy director of the Energy Research Institute at the National Development and Reform Commission, supports Xie's point of view and gives two examples.

"The first is a few days ago I read a story from foreign newspaper which criticized the pollution from a Chinese photovoltaic cell producer. I am wondering if developed countries could sell the clean technology of solar power generation to China at a reasonable price, how China could engage in such misbehavior?

"The second is about clean transport technology. Take the international auto expo held in Beijing last week for example. Choices offered by international auto producers to Chinese consumers are mostly gas-guzzling types, and limousines. Why can't they promote Smart, an fuel efficient small-sized car, to the Chinese?"

However, on the other hand, for years wealthy countries have used the issue of intellectual property rights as an excuse to set barriers on technology transfers, Zou Ji says.

"That is a concern," de Boer says. "But countries, rich and poor, have recognized that intellectual property need to be respected, otherwise it will be a big disincentive for research and development."

"The clock is ticking and we really need to reach the next international agreement soon," de Boer says. "China is acting on climate change. Major changes in Chinese policies on climate change have taken place in the past couple of years. For example, it set the target of cutting its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent in 2010 and raising its renewable energy consumption to 15 percent in 2020. They are really ambitious."

"But it is clear that we need to go much further. The question is how developing countries, like China, can be engaged further in fighting against climate change without jeopardizing the goal of their economic goals and intellectual property rights," he says.

(China Daily 05/03/2008 page5)