Ecologic to Assess Technology Transfer Proposals Under Discussion at Copenhagen Climate Negotiations

WASHINGTON DC / NEW YORK (19 August 2009): The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Climate Change Initiative in New York has awarded Ecologic Institute, Washington DC, a grant of $75,264 to conduct an in-depth assessment of technology transfer proposals under review in the run-up to the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009.

To begin in August 2009, the five-month project will produce a policy brief that links analysis of key technology transfer proposals prepared for the UNFCCC 15th Conference of Parties meeting to scientific insights and practical experiences gained through existing mechanisms for technology transfer. The extent and modalities for transferring climate technologies from developed countries are complex and wide-ranging, including technology-based commitments to a technology fund, sanctions for non-compliance, the creation of special mechanisms, and changes in the international intellectual property regime.

The Ecologic Institute policy brief will be widely disseminated to stakeholders prior to and during the Copenhagen meeting, allowing negotiators to not only identify the technology transfer policy options that may be consensual, but also those that are likely to work. A briefing event to discuss project recommendations is scheduled for Washington DC in mid-November to which US policy makers involved with technology transfer will be invited as well as US participants at the Copenhagen meeting. 

A longer policy study following the conclusion of COP 15 will examine the outcome of technology transfer negotiations against the background of linkages made in the policy brief between science and practical experiences.

Established in 2008 and launched in April 2009, the Washington, DC office of Ecologic Institute is the US counterpart of the non-profit environmental policy think tank founded in 1995 in Berlin, Germany.

Working in a unique transatlantic partnership with policy experts in the Berlin office, the Washington DC office will manage the project through its climate and energy program.

“Finding an agreement on technology transfer will be a key condition for strong engagement by developing countries in the climate regime, both in Copenhagen and beyond,” said Michael Mehling, president of the Ecologic Institute in Washington DC. “Ecologic Institute welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this important debate and bring its genuinely international perspective to bear on the relevant issues.”

About Ecologic Institute

Since its founding as an independent, non-profit and non-partisan environmental policy think tank in 1995 in Berlin, Germany, Ecologic has closely followed international climate negotiations from legal, economic, and policy perspectives.The current project builds on Ecologic’s extensive climate policy work with governments, intergovernmental organizations and civil society institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, including, inter alia, drafting the official UNFCCC Handbook for the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn; a number of advisory and research papers for the European Commission, the European Parliament, and various EU member state governments; and, most recently, a policy paper for the German Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation about the transfer of climate-related technology. Ecologic staff members currently participate as part of the official German delegation to COP15.

About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Climate Change Initiative

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and the prevention of child maltreatment, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.

The goal of the Climate Change Initiative is to help build a clean-energy economy. In pursuit of this goal, the initiative supports analytical work that informs the government about policies that are needed to foster technological innovation in the energy sector and accelerate the emergence of new clean-energy technologies. This includes work related to the mechanisms and institutions that support clean-energy technology development and deployment around the globe, including finance mechanisms.

For more information, please contact

Charlotte Moser, Senior Advisor, Ecologic Institute, Washington DC
Tel: +1 (202) 518 - 2063