Climate change and technology in a globalizing world : a study on how the Clean Development Mechanism facilitates introduction of climate friendly technology in Africa

Abstract

During only a decade or so, the issue of climate and how it can be affected, positively or negatively, by technological change, has become one of the most debated issues on the global agenda. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is among the tools developed by the international community to reduce GHG emissions and, at the same time, promote sustainable development in developing countries. The CDM allows industrialized countries to finance commercially driven projects in developing countries that reduce GHG emissions, and treat the reductions as their own. The focus of this thesis is to map factors that have influenced development of proposals to apply the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to introduce climate friendly technology to Africa, and to assess the nature of these projects and their potential for technology transfer.

During the course of writing the thesis, visits were made to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal (2005) and the Carbon Market Insight Conference in Copenhagen (2006). Material for CDM project reviews was collected i.a. during a field visit to Uganda (2005) and by access to the world’s largest database on CDM projects, granted by Point Carbon.

The quantitative and qualitative analyses suggest that CDM as an instrument will promote investment in climate-friendly technology in Africa. At least one-third of the projects will include explicit transfer of such technology to Africa from a developed-world partner. Moreover, factors such as the existence of a host country framework for the CDM and other country specific factors will influence the development of CDM as well as technology inflow caused by CDM. This is important because the development and diffusion of climate friendly technologies is crucial for reducing GHG emissions and adapting to climate change.