This article evaluates the effectiveness of the technology transfer provisions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Kyoto Protocol, and Paris Agreement and under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, to facilitate access to and transfer of climate technologies for the least developed countries (LDCs) through a case study on Bangladesh (which has been selected considering its serious vulnerability to climate change and as one of the most active LDC in technology transfer during climate negotiations and TRIPS Council meetings). This article concludes that the LDCs should indicate their technology needs in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) using an integrated, collaborative approach, including financing for climate technologies and capacity-building indicating their specific technology transfer needs. The TRIPS Council under the TRIPS Agreement could introduce a comprehensive review mechanism for evaluating the technology transfer support provided by the developed countries to the LDCs. The author proposes to develop a database of urgently needed climate technologies and establish a neglected climate technology initiatives network to facilitate access and transfer of urgently needed climate technologies for the LDCs.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate to what extent the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have supported (or could support) the least developed countries (LDCs) particularly for accessing the climate technologies and thereby to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. This study adopted legal dogmatism to evaluate the gradual development of technology transfer issues to support the LDCs under the international climate regime. This study suggested a few potential measures to facilitate meaningful technology transfer to LDCs – such as clarifying and linking the role of the technology and financial mechanism, a more robust role of capacity building, using the sustainable development mechanism with a technology transfer focus, improving the transparency and reporting mechanism to particularly indicate support regarding technology transfer requested and received by the LDCs linking it with the nationally determined contributions, and adapting a pragmatic approach to intellectual property.

This study is an original contribution as it identified concern over technology transfer under the UNFCCC since 1992 with a focus on the LDCs and indicated required actions that need to be taken to support the LDCs in the context of climate-related technology transfer and beyond. 

Because most climate technologies are patented in developed countries, intellectual property rights held over these technologies by rights holders in developed countries can impede the access of least developed countries (LDCs) to these technologies owing to difficulties such as high royalty fees, refusals to license and unnecessary conditions for transfers of technology. This paper argues that the principles and objectives of the TRIPS Agreement, as laid down in Articles 7 and 8, could be used for an interpretation fitting the need of the LDCs to access climate technologies and evaluates the potential to adopt a declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and climate change to guide the utilisation of TRIPS flexibilities. Among other things, these include using research exceptions, parallel imports, compulsory licences and competition law. This paper further evaluates potential options for utilising Articles 66.2 and 67 of the TRIPS Agreement and the potential to adopt a new agreement from a climate change standpoint to meet the urgent need of LDCs for access to and transfer of climate technologies.

Climate change is viewed as one of the most serious threats to the global environment and to sustainable development.   Government      representatives, environmentalists, lawyers, industry groups, development lobbyists, human rights activists and carbon traders, all agree on one thing: Innovation and new technologies will play a crucial role in meeting the challenge of global climate change. But the lack of investment capacity for R&D on ESTs in developing countries on the one hand, and on the other all those recourses available in developed countries with strong private entities has brought forth a debate of intellectual property rights (IPR) and climate change. This calls for striking a balance between the interest of IPR owners in developed countries and potential users in developing countries to facilitate technology transfer for the mitigation and adaptation to climate change. This paper will try to evaluate technology transfer issues from the context of international environmental law and intellectual property law and suggest some possible means for a successful climate negotiation and transfer of ESTs.

The impact of climate change has emerged as a major threat to sustainable development and poverty reduction efforts in many less developed countries, in particular in the least developed countries (LDCs) such as the countries in the African region and Small Island States. New technologies are necessary for the stabilization and reduction of atmospheric greenhouse gases and to enhance the capacity of poor countries to respond to shifts in resource endowments that are expected to accompany climate change. Therefore, technology transfer, particularly in the case of access to environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) is widely seen as an integral part of climate change resilience. Concerted efforts will be required for the development, deployment and transfer of ESTs to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience to the risks of climate change. Thus, development and transfer of ESTs has emerged as a fundamental building block in the crafting of a post-Kyoto 2012 global regime for climate change resilience. In this context, the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) has been the subject of increased attention in the climate change discussions since the Bali conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2007. Different conflicting views and positions have emerged pointing to the role of IPRs in either facilitating or hindering the transfer of ESTs. The dissemination of ESTs from developed countries to developing countries and LDCs is a very complicated process often simplified by the argument that patent waiver for ESTs or allowing copying with weak intellectual property rights will help the developing countries and LDCs to better cope with the climate change problems. This article tries to examine the relationship between the IPRs (with special reference to patent system) and the resilience discourse with a starting point in the terms of social and ecological resilience.