Technology is clearly crucial to tackling the climate crisis. From solar panels and smart grids to electric vehicles and green steel, much of the policy plans relies heavily on innovation and new technologies. But since the development and implementation of these technologies is dominated by the richer, developed countries, the UN climate negotiations include a key idea known as ‘technology transfer’.
This compels wealthier countries to support developing ones in accessing climate technology, a notion found in the original 1992 treaty that began the climate talks and later repeated in the Paris Agreement. This fits into a wider pillar of UN climate negotiations, which recognises that richer developed countries must take the lead in reducing their emissions and in supporting poorer countries to do so as well.
In their climate plans, submitted to the UN in 2015, some 67 countries said they have a need for technology support. Thirty years after the promise...