Knowledge Base Determinants of Technology Sourcing in the Clean Development Mechanism Projects
Asel Doranova, Ionara Costa & Geert Duysters
#2009-015
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the three greenhouse gas
emission reduction and trading instruments of the Kyoto Protocol (KP).
The CDM allows governments and business entities from developed
countries to offset their emissions liabilities by reducing or avoiding
emissions in developing countries, where it is often cheaper to do so.
Examples of CDM projects include the installation of various renewable
energy producing facilities, cutting the GHG emissions in industry and
waste management, or projects focused on improving energy efficiency.
From the sustainable development perspectives CDM has been alleged as a
new channel of transfer and diffusion of climate friendly technologies
(CFT) in developing countries. However we are evidencing that the
majority of the CDM projects deploy local sources of technology, which
challenges the North- South technology transfer paradigm established
under the sustainable development agenda of the KP. This paper is an
attempt to explain technology sourcing patterns in CDM projects through
employment of knowledge base determinants. On the basis of an empirical
analysis we conclude that in countries with a stronger knowledge base in
CFT, CDM project implementers tend to go for local and combined
technologies and less for foreign technologies.
Key words: Clean Development Mechanism, Kyoto Protocol, Technology
JEL Classification: Q0, Q2, Q4, O3, O33, O38
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
ISSN 1871-9872