One of the central tenets of any international effort to mitigate future emissions from rapidly developing economies is to foster low carbon economic growth. Such growth requires the development and deployment of a range of low carbon technologies through a combination of indigenous innovation and international technology collaboration and transfer. As a result, low carbon technology transfer will play a key role in negotiations about international climate policy, post-2012.
There is wide recognition of the fact that to date efforts under the auspices of the UNFCCC to facilitate low carbon technology transfer to developing countries have largely failed. Despite the high profile and controversial nature of technology transfer within international negotiations, inadequate empirical evidence exists across the board upon which to base policy. The different stages of development of low carbon technologies, from R&D through to commercial diffusion, introduce new and unique barriers, opportunities and policy challenges which are not yet properly understood. These are made more urgent by the need to achieve rapid diffusion of low carbon technologies to avoid dangerous climate change.
Research in the Sussex Energy Group is helping to plug the gap in the evidence base on low carbon innovation in developing countries, and the role of technology transfer. This research is affiliated with the development programme of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
Major projects:
- UK-India collaborative study on low carbon technology transfer (2006-2008)
- UK-China collaborative study on low carbon technology transfer (2010-2011)
Related research outputs:
- Jim Watson and Oliver Johnson (2010) Renewable Energy Technologies for Rural Development. UNCTAD current studies on science, technology and innovation. Geneva, UNCTAD.
- David Ockwell, Jim Watson, Anne Marie Verbeken, Alexandra Mallett and Gordon MacKerron (2009)
A blueprint for post-2012 technology transfer to developing countries. Sussex Energy Group Policy Briefing No. 5, December.
- - David Ockwell, Adrian Ely, Alexandra Mallett, Oliver Johnson and Jim Watson (2009) Low carbon development: The role of local innovative capabilities.
This paper is part of the New Manifesto project led by the ESRC STEPS Centre.
- Jim Watson and Raphael Sauter (2008) Technology Leapfrogging: A Review of the Evidence [pdf 442KB]. This report was prepared for DFID, and launched at a side event at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan in December 2008.
- Jim Watson, Gordon MacKerron, David Ockwell and Tao Wang (2007).
Technology and carbon mitigation in developing countries: Are cleaner coal technologies a viable option? Background paper for the 2007 UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008.
Previous research:
- Projects with the China Council on cleaner technology transfer to China (1999-2002)
Contacts:
