Low-Carbon Technology Transfer Under The Climate Change Convention

A surge of international activity related to low-carbon technology development and transfer ensued the Bali Climate Conference, ¹ held in 2007. For the first time since the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), technology transfer became a key issue in the negotiations in Bali, and led to the agreement on the establishment of a Technology Mechanism ² at the Cancun Climate Conference in 2010. Following the Bali Conference, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), as the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC, was asked to elaborate a programme to ‘scale up the level of investment in the transfer of environmentally sound technologies’, which resulted in a US$50 million programme, ³ funding amongst other activities a number of pilot technology transfer projects in support of mitigation and adaptation (GEF, 2008a). Outside the UNFCCC, international and regional organizations, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, launched new funds and stepped up their climate change technology programmes and lending.