Background

Enabling environment is the expression that encompasses government policies that focus on creating and maintaining an overall macroeconomic environment that brings together suppliers and consumers in an inter-firm co-operation manner (UNCTAD, 1998a. TD/B/COM.2/33).  IPCC (2000) states that for promoting successful, sustainable transfer of environmentally sound technology for the purposes of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, a context that implies multi-faceted enabling environments in both developed and developing countries is needed. Enabling environment for transferring technologies includes:

(a)	National institutions for technology innovation;
(b)	Involvement of social and managing technologies in a macroeconomic policy framework;
(c)	Underpinnings of sustainable markets for EST;
(d)	National legal institutions that introduce codes and standards, reduce risk and protect intellectual property rights;
(e)	Research and technology development; and
(f)	Means for addressing equity issues.

The enabling environments component of the framework focuses on government actions, such as fair trade policies, removal of technical, legal and administrative barriers to technology transfer, sound economic policy, regulatory frameworks and transparency, all of which create an environment conducive to private and public sector technology transfer.

Purpose

The purpose of the enabling environments component of the framework is to improve the effectiveness of the transfer of environmentally sound technologies by identifying and analysing ways of facilitating the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, including the \ identification and removal of barriers at each stage of the process.

Implementation

The following are means of creating enabling environments for technology transfer:

(a)	All Parties, particularly developed country Parties, are urged to improve, as appropriate, the enabling environment for the transfer of environmentally sound technologies through the identification and removal of barriers, including, inter alia, strengthening environmental regulatory frameworks, enhancing legal systems, ensuring fair trade policies, utilizing tax preferences, protecting intellectual property rights and improving access to publicly funded technologies and other programmes, in order to expand commercial and public technology transfer to developing countries;
(b)	All Parties are urged to explore, as appropriate, opportunities for providing positive incentives, such as preferential government procurement and transparent and efficient approval procedures for technology transfer projects, which support the development and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies;
(c)	All Parties are urged to promote joint research and development programmes, as appropriate, both bilaterally and multilaterally;
(d)	Developed country Parties are encouraged to promote further and to implement facilitative measures, for example export credit programmes and tax preferences, and regulations, as appropriate, to promote the transfer of environmentally sound technologies;
(e)	All Parties, particularly developed country Parties, are encouraged to integrate, as appropriate, the objective of technology transfer to developing countries into their national policies, including environmental and research and development policies and programmes; and
(f)	Developed countries are encouraged to promote, as appropriate, the transfer of publicly owned technologies.

Progress

A definitive assessment of the progress made in the implementation of the means of creating enabling environments for technology transfer identified in the definition of this theme of the framework is difficult, due to a lack of information on institutional/regulatory activities specifically undertaken by governments for implementing this theme.

The EGTT, within its field of competence, the secretariat and relevant stakeholders undertook extensive work in implementing this theme of the framework. Barriers to technology transfer and opportunities to remove them were addressed through several means, including a technical paper prepared by the secretariat on enabling environments for the development and transfer of technologies, a workshop on enabling environments, held in Ghent, Belgium, in 2003, and a senior-level round-table discussion held at COP 9. The round-table discussion was organized in collaboration with the EGTT, relevant intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and business and industry non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The technical paper, workshop, and the round-table discussions resulted in a better understanding of the definition and means to enhance enabling environments to support technology transfer. The technical paper on enabling environments for the development and transfer of technologies was well received by the Parties and has also been used as a resource by academic institutions outside the UNFCCC process.

Based on a recommendation by the EGTT, the SBSTA, at its eighteenth session, encouraged business and industry NGOs, and relevant international organizations, to organize, in consultation with the EGTT and the secretariat, sector-specific workshops and other activities relevant to enabling environments for the development and transfer of technologies, for the purpose of exchanging experiences and lessons learned, and to make available to the secretariat information on the outcome of those activities. The business and industry NGOs organized an event on this subject at COP 10.

At its subsequent sessions, the SBSTA requested the EGTT to work on establishing a better understanding of the issues relating to publicly owned technologies and those in the public domain. Based on its deliberation on this topic, the EGTT prepared an informal paper on this subject. The SBSTA agreed to organize a side event at its twenty-fourth session, with the view to generating better understanding on issues surrounding this topic.

The EGTT recognized that this key theme of the technology transfer framework needs the most attention for enhancing the implementation of the framework. To enhance the implementation, concrete and measurable follow-up activities need to be initiated by Parties.