Short history of the issue

Parties have taken decisions to promote the development and transfer of environmentally sound technologies at each session of the COP. At COP 4 (Buenos Aires, November 1998), as part of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, Parties decided to give new impetus to this issue by adopting decision 4/CP.4, which requested the Chairman of the SBSTA to establish a "consultative process" on technology transfer. Decision 4/CP.4 stated that the consultative process should consider a list of issues and questions set out in an annex to the decision, as well as any additional issues and questions subsequently identified by Parties. The process should then make recommendations on how the issues and questions should be addressed in order to achieve agreement on a "framework for meaningful and effective actions" to enhance the implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention.

The evolution of the issue over time is illustrated in the figure 1 (135 kB) .  Three main periods can be identified:  The Berlin mandate and work on other issues (COP 1 to COP 4), the Buenos Aires Plan of Action and the consultative process on technology transfer (COP 4 to COP 7), and the Marrakesh Accords and implementation of the framework for meaningful and effective actions to enhance the implementation of Article 4, paragraph 5, of the Convention (COP 7 to COP 12), contained in the annex to decision 4/CP.7.  At COP 10, a process was initiated to review the progress made and effectiveness in the implementation of this framework.  The EGTT was requested to provide recommendations for enhancing the implementation, including the revision of this framework.

As part of the consultative process, the SBSTA Chairman, with the assistance of the secretariat, organized three regional workshops in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, along with an informal consultation held in Golden, Colorado, USA. Throughout the process, a number of regional technical background papers and country papers were prepared and presented, all of which generated much useful information and many ideas for the development of a framework for meaningful and effective actions to enhance the implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention. In addition, the consultative process was able to draw on information and analysis contained in the submissions from Parties and in particular in the IPCC Special Report on Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology Transfer.

In parallel with the consultative process, the secretariat upon the request by the COP and SBSTA, has carried out a number of activities in support of the efforts of Parties to promote technology transfer activities under the Convention. These activities include the compilation and synthesis of information on financial resources and technology transfer activities of Annex I Parties, including both mitigation and adaptation technologies, support Parties' effort in assessing their technology needs and broadening access of Parties to information on technologies. The secretariat has also prepared a series of technical papers on specific topics, such as adaptation technologies and terms of transfer. A key ongoing project is the development of a technology information system (TT:CLEAR), including an inventory of environmentally-friendly technologies and projects, as well as its technology web page.

Read more about the promise of technology in the publication United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: The First Ten Years

Development and transfer of technologies: major milestones (135 kB)