Renewable Technology Transfer to Developing Countries: One Size Does Not Fit All

Abstract

Summary Developing countries are experiencing unprecedented levels of economic growth. As a result, they will be responsible for most of the future growth in energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. The development, transfer and use of renewable energy technologies are promising ways towards low‐carbon development in these countries. However, the UNFCCC processes have had a limited success in promoting them. This is mainly due to their disconnection with national enabling factors and to their homogeneous approach for all developing countries. This paper addresses these pitfalls by analysing the differentiated performance of developing countries with regards to several indicators of enabling factors for technology transfer. Three quantitative analysis methodologies – principal component analysis, multiple regression analysis and cluster analysis – are used to identify the most important enabling factors of technology transfer and to create groups of developing countries according to their performance in these. Policy recommendations are then adapted to the specific needs of each of the defined groups.

Policy as a catalyst in shaping mobility sector transition for developing countries

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Economies as 'Makers' or 'Users': Rectifying the Polysemic Quandary with a Dualist Taxonomy

“…Similarly, the conclusion that global inequality has declined since the 1960s, propagated by high-profile publications (including those by the UN), was disproved by Hickel ( 2017 ), who argued that most of the convergence between the developed and developing world was mainly driven by growth in China. Pueyo and Linares ( 2013 ) suggested that attempts by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to transfer renewable technology to developing countries achieved limited success due to their homogeneous approach when dealing with developing economies. A concern that needs addressing in the literature is whether we have been complacent in the use of traditional stereotypic classifications to the extent that the lens used by the UN Security Council (Iyase & Folarin, 2018 ; Stephen, 2018 ), for example, can only see “developed” and “developing” as the prominent categories, despite such view limiting the understanding of current issues and the chances of providing effective solution in the future (Harris et al, 2009 ).…”

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