The mention of technology transfer usually results only in a
barrage of words at the climate negotiations, as in almost all
other environment negotiations. Yet, transfer of environmentally
sound technologies (ESTs) from industrialised to developing
countries is a commitment under article 4.5 of the climate
convention, and an important tool to control carbon dioxide
emissions. The debate over technology transfer includes some
extremely controversial issues, including that of the
intellectual property rights (IPRs) of those who develop cleaner
technologies. Of crucial concern is the type of technology that
an industrialised country can transfer within the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol to meet their
emissions reduction targets. If industrialised countries
transfer fossil fuel-based technologies to developing countries
- even if these are top of the shelf - sooner or later their
efficiency would go down, but before that developing countries
would have to phase them out to meet commitment