James Arthur Haselip

Barriers to the Transfer of Low-carbon Electricity Generation Technologies in Four Latin American Countries

This article discusses the conclusions of four national Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) processes in Latin America (2011-2013), as applied to the electricity sector. The primary focus is on the financial and economic barriers identified by countries to the transfer of prioritized low-carbon energy technologies. While many electricity markets in Latin America were liberalized during the 1990s and 2000s, such market-driven reform policies were far from uniform and in reality there exist a diversity of governance frameworks for national electricity markets, exemplified here by Argentina, Cuba, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. As such, we compare the identified barriers against the key characteristics of the national electricity sectors and natural resource base, in order to evaluate the relative significance of these barriers. In doing so, we make an indicative contribution to the debate about the relationship between financial and economic barriers to technology transfer and electricity market structures, based on a new round of country-driven priorities and analysis, in support of the UNFCCC process on climate change mitigation.

Africa–Europe Collaborations for Climate Change Research and Innovation: What Difference Have They Made?

This chapter critically assesses Africa–Europe collaborations on climate change research and innovation. Its authors argue that the complexity of research and innovation challenges on this topic calls for subtler collaborative and evaluation programmes. More importantly, they emphasise the need for greater harmonisation between scientific and political priorities on climate change, and point out that project goals should be more precisely defined, so as to ensure that results can be measured concretely and solutions can be progressively improved. In the absence of this clarity, they argue, climate change research and innovation programmes run the risk of being reduced to mere rhetorical statements.

The mismatch between the in-country determinants of technology transfer, and the scope of technology transfer initiatives under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Despite decades of international political emphasis, little is known about the in-country determinants of technology transfer for climate change mitigation. We draw upon the conclusions of a series of standardised, official governmental statements of technology priorities, coupled with questionnaire-based data collection, to shed light on the nature of those determinants. We find that there is a disconnect between what developing country governments perceive as the key enablers of, and barriers to, technology transfer, and what bilateral and multilateral technology transfer programmes can offer, given budgetary constraints and the logic of development aid spending. We show that the well-established notion of making climate change mitigation actions an integral part of sound development plans is especially relevant for technology transfer. We offer pointers as to how this might be done in practice, in the context of the ‘technology action plans’ developed as part of the United Nations-sponsored technology needs assessment process.