New Delhi (NVI): Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees is possible with existing low-carbon technology, if it is deployed on a massive scale to developing countries, according to the World Bank.
“There is an urgent need to facilitate the transfer of technology to developing countries,” said Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions, at the World Bank Group.
Technology Transfer and Innovation for Low-Carbon Development observes that the cost of low-carbon technology (LCT) is on decrease while investment, trade, and innovation in this sector are rising.
The benefits of that progress have largely avoided the world’s poorest countries, which play little role in LCT markets as buyers, sellers or innovators despite being the most vulnerable.
As global transfer and deployment of LCT from developed to developing economies is a necessity but also an opportunity, according to the World Bank report.
Actions that promote LCT absorption, use and production, such as investments in human capital, infrastructure and firms. These investments can increase a country’s competitiveness, output, and employment while producing other benefits that improve the lives of citizens.
The World Bank report noted that, mass deployment of existing technology in just four sectors—energy, industry, transport and buildings, can account for two-thirds of the emissions reductions needed by 2030.
It is also said, technological capabilities in developing countries are improving although slowly, and from a small base.
In year 1992, just 5.2 percent of global LCT exports went from developing to advanced economies. By 2016, this share had increased to 18.1 percent, as per the World Bank report.
China is the said to be the world’s largest importer and exporter of LCT. In 2016, China accounted for 15.9 percent of total LCT imports, ranking ahead of the United States (13.2 percent) and Germany (6.9 percent).
Meanwhile, LCT have certain characteristics that make their adoption and transfer difficult, which include high up-front capital requirements, highly complex production inputs, and intense inertia and competition from the fossil fuel industry.
Apart from that, there are a variety of domestic and international policies that can help promote LCT technology transfer as well.
However, LCT is becoming less expensive, more widely traded and the basis for increasing innovation.
