Technology Transfer for the Ozone Layer - Lessons for Climate Change
Authors/Editors: Stephen O. Andersen, K. Madhava Sarma and Kristen N. Taddonio
Publisher: Earthscan (2007)

Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, there are few issues more contentious than technology transfer. On more than one occasion, meetings have ground to a standstill over bitter fights between developed and developing country Parties over how to make the technology necessary to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases available to all that needs it.

Many of the issues surrounding technology transfer that plague the climate treaty conferences were just as contentious in the early days of efforts to protect the ozone layer. But the Parties to the Montreal Protocol developed a broad array of tools, techniques, and strategies to overcome them, and today represents a modern day success story in the fast and cost-effective dissemination of technologies that can protect the global environment.

Technology Transfer for the Ozone Layer - Lessons for Climate Change endeavors to show how many of these strategies can be adapted and applied to the problem of climate change.

How does this work? The Montreal Protocol is the world's most successful international environmental treaty. The achievement has been won through the five stages of technology transfer, assessment, agreement, implementation, evaluation and adjustment, and replication. The adoption of clean technology involved the attitude to environmental and economic risks, the social pressures of community, market and regulations, and behavioral control of technological and organizational capabilities.

The first five chapters describe the mechanisms of technology transfer, the background of ozone and climate agreements, and how technology was changed in developed countries. From chapter 6 onwards, there is a detailed account of how technology was transferred in each of the major sectors using ozone-depleting substances: foams, refrigeration, air-conditioning, aerosol products, fire protection, solvents, and pest control. Chapter 12 describes the barriers to technology transfer faced by developing countries and this is followed by a chapter on awareness and capacity building. All these chapters are illustrated by detailed case studies of practical examples from the Montreal Protocol mechanisms.

Chapter 14 is most significant because it gives twelve lessons on how the information gained in the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances may be applied to reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. The title of the first lesson, "Act Now," encompasses the most important lesson for the international community. We know that many nations are falling behind in their commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and it will require courage for these and other countries to make the dent that is necessary in the quantities of greenhouse gases that are emitted. In fact, the promotion of compliance and enforcement of domestic regulations relating to controlling greenhouse gas must be the top environmental priority for many nations.

The book gives a fresh look at the problems involved in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, by transferring technology from developed to developing countries.

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