One of my current projects is one on revisiting the debate on climate change, technology transfer and intellectual property. By 2014, in international climate change negotiations, a consensus had built up that the existence of intellectual property rights, in particular patents, are NOT a barrier to addressing climate change. In my 2014 book, I challenged that idea arguing that focusing on the existence of patents was the wrong focus and that we should focus instead of HOW intellectual property rights were being exercised. I argued for a focus on licensing patterns from developed to developing countries and that further research in particular should seek to examine what licensing terms and conditions were being made to developing country researchers and manufacturers of climate technologies. This article revisits the debate on IP and Climate change, looking in particular at the empirical data and research on licensing of intellectual property. I suspect that there remains a significant hole in the research around licensing to developing countries, and in assessing developing country firm perspectives on what is needed to enable adoption, adaptation and distribution of climate technologies. I plan to make a proposal for a research agenda to answer these questions in order to address the climate change problem at the necessary speed and scale. Over the next few months, I’ll post updates and analyses on this topic. If you want to review some of the argument please see Chapter 3 of my book and some of the resources below:
Jha, Veena and Hoffman, Ulrich (eds.) “Achieving Objectives of Multilateral Environmental Agreements: A Package of Trade Measures and Positive Measures Elucidated by Results of Developing Country Case Studies” UNCTAD/ITCD/TED/6, UNCTAD 2000. Available at: https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/itcdted6_en.pdf
Copenhagen Economics and the IPR Company “Are IPRs a Barrier to the Transfer of Climate Change Technology?” Study Commissioned by European Commission DG Trade, January 2009. Available at: https://www.copenhageneconomics.com/dyn/resources/Publication/publicationPDF/7/27/0/Are_IPR_a_barrier_to_the_transfer_of_climate_change_technology.pdf
Karachalios, Konstantinos, et. al. (eds.) “Patents and Clean Energy: Bridging the Gap between Evidence and Policy: Final report” UNEP/ EPO / ICTSD 2010. Available at: https://www.uncclearn.org/wp-content/uploads/library/unep97.pdf
Dechezleprêtre, A. et. al. “Invention and Transfer of Climate Change–Mitigation Technologies: A Global Analysis” 5 Rev Environ Econ Policy 109 (2011). Available at: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/reep/req023
Ockwell, D., et al. “UK-India Collaboration to Identify the Barriers to the Transfer of Low Carbon Technology-Final report” (London: the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, U.K., 2007). Available at: https://www.academia.edu/68498727/UK_India_collaboration_to_identify_the_barriers_to_the_transfer_of_low_carbon_energy_technology_Final_report
Perez Pugatch, M. “The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies” Global Challenges Report, WIPO, 2011. Available at: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_gc_4.pdf
Technology, Sustainability & Human Rights 