A journey from Rio to Paris via Kyoto to facilitate technology transfer to the LDCs under the UNFCCC
| Published date | 14 January 2021 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPPEL-05-2020-0024 |
| Date | 14 January 2021 |
| Pages | 60-84 |
| Subject Matter | Property management & built environment,Building & construction,Building & construction law,Real estate & property,Property law |
| Author | Monirul Azam |
A journey from Rio to Paris via
Kyoto to facilitate technology
transfer to the LDCs
under the UNFCCC
Monirul Azam
Department of Law, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to evaluate to what extent the Paris Agreement and the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have supported (or could support) the least
developed countries (LDCs) particularly for accessing the climate technologies and thereby to meet the
objectivesof the Paris Agreement.
Design/methodology/approach –This study adopted legal dogmatism to evaluate the gradual
developmentof technology transfer issues to support the LDCs under the internationalclimate regime.
Findings –This study suggested a few potentialmeasures to facilitate meaningful technology transfer to
LDCs –such as clarifying and linkingthe role of the technology and financialmechanism, a more robust role
of capacity building, using the sustainable development mechanism with a technology transfer focus,
improving the transparencyand reporting mechanism to particularly indicate support regarding technology
transfer requested and received by the LDCs linking it with the nationally determined contributions, and
adaptinga pragmaticapproach to intellectual property.
Originality/value –This study is an originalcontribution as it identified concern over technologytransfer
under the UNFCCC since 1992with a focus on the LDCs and indicated required actions that needto be taken
to supportthe LDCs in the context of climate-related technologytransfer and beyond.
Keywords Climate change, Technology transfer, The LDCs, Technology mechanism, TRIPS agreement,
UNFCCC Paris agreement
Paper type Research paper
1. Background
The planet has reached a bio-physical tipping point; environmental degradation threatens to
undermine the collective well-being of all nations (Rockström et al., 2009;Barnosky et al., 2012).
Despite disagreement about the degree of degradation and mode of ecosystem collapse, most
agree that humans are the main driver of planetary change and that our activities are pushing
global temperatures, land and water use beyond their limits, resulting in extreme pollution of
the biosphere, acidification of the oceans and reduced biodiversity. As there are many opinions
on the nature and extent of the problems, there are also divergent views on the pathways to
solve the problems. Some believe that the answer is for humans to do less of everything and
argue that we should reduce consumption, waste, population, fertiliser use, pesticides, fishing,
The author would like to express deep gratitude to Professor Marianne Levin and Professor Jonas
Ebbesson, both from Department of Law, Stockholm University for useful comments on the draft
article. The author would like to thank Julie Adshead, Editor, Journal of Property, Planning and
Environmental Law and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of the
manuscript.
JPPEL
13,1
60
Received15 May 2020
Revised12 August 2020
19October 2020
22November 2020
Accepted3 December 2020
Journalof Property, Planning and
EnvironmentalLaw
Vol.13 No. 1, 2021
pp. 60-84
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2514-9407
DOI 10.1108/JPPEL-05-2020-0024
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9407.htm
etc. (Vince, 2012). Another view is that technology and humaningenuity could maintain climate
impact at a sustainable level. DeFRieS et al. (2012) argue that technology and innovation have
already helped us to deal with the massive problems of plagues, low crop yields, water
shortages and other environmentally non-sustainable activities, and therefore, developing and
deploying climate technologies globally is vital for the prevention of dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system [1].
The least developed countries (LDCs) are the worst victims of climate change and they
are facing severe consequences for agriculture, water, health and ecosystems despite their
average contributionto climate change being either zero or minimal (IPCC, 2014)[2]. One UN
study, considering the vulnerability of LDCs in the context of climate change reported that
“over 70% of the population in the LDCs reside in rural areas and is dependent on income
from agriculture.People in LDCs are therefore, more exposed than those in other countriesto
the effects of land degradation, drought, desertification, deforestation, as well as water and
air pollution, which are associated with climate change. The effect of climate change on
agriculture is likely to deprive large sections of the population in the LDCs of their
livelihoods, condemning them to perpetual poverty”(UN-United Nations, 2009). Such
impacts have already constraineddevelopmental efforts and hampered the attainment of the
Sustainable DevelopmentGoals in the LDCs (Azam and Okitasari, 2015).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report, 2018 reflected
that “pathways limitingglobal warming to 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot would require
rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure (including
transport and buildings) and industrial systems”(IPCC, 2018). However, such a rapid
transition requires substantialfinancial and technical means. In the context of the LDCs, the
situation is further aggravatedas the LDCs not only lack adequate financing but also have
serious limitations in terms of technical capacity and supply of sufficient technologies that
are crucial for the mitigation and adaptationto climate change (Stott, 2014). Considering the
technology gap and vulnerability of the LDCs, The United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) including the Paris Agreement of 12 December 2015
reiterated the importanceof technical and financial cooperation for the LDCs [3]. However, to
date, inadequate progress has been made to address the issues of technology transfer to
assist LDCs to deal withnumerous climate mitigation and adaptation challenges(Craft et al.,
2017;Shashikant and Khor, 2010). If the worldcontinues to develop without considering the
detrimental climate-related impacts on the LDCs, business as usual will lead to extreme
environmental repercussionsfor all (IPCC, 2019).
The objective of this article is to evaluate to what extent the UNFCCC and the Paris
Agreement have supported(or could support) the LDCs in access to climate technologies for
mitigation and adaptationto climate change. Therefore, a key question is: how canthe Paris
Agreement be used to enable more meaningful and effective climate-related technology
transfer to the LDCs?
This article adopts a doctrinal approach to understand and evaluate the debate over
technology transfer and how options available under the UNFCCC-Paris Agreement could
be used to facilitate technology transfer to the LDCs. The existing body of law was
evaluated along withits historic origins to understand the purpose behind the measuresand
what progress has been made towards those ends over the years (Holmes, 1897;Vranken,
2011). Primary sources relating to technology transfer from the text of the UNFCCC, Kyoto
Protocol (KP) and the Paris Agreement were examined along with secondary sources of
background, debate and practices from the history of climate negotiations. The analysis of
the history of climate negotiations was necessary as it sheds light on whycertain decisions
were reached, why it was not possibleto settle some issues and what factors lay behind the
Technology
transfer
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