Ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Change summit, India is set to hold a high-level climate change meet to address crucial issues facing developing countries: development of clean technologies and technology transfer mechanisms to the developing world.

India along with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs is organising the meet which will be held in Delhi in October. One of the primary aims of the conference will be to try and evolve a technology transfer mechanism which can aid developing countries.

At a climate change summit in Bonn this month, India and other developing countries had suggested an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol (a treaty which lays down commitments for countries to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions). The suggestion is that developed countries, mainly the Western world, cut emissions by 40 per cent of 1990 level by 2020, a proposal which has so far been met with resistance.

The Prime Minister’s envoy on climate change Shyam Saran has said that the technology transfer to developing countries is a burning issue and intellectual property rights globally may need to be slackened for it. “We have homed in on the issues being faced by developing countries, and technology transfer and development is a crucial issue. Through this summit we want to explore all possible technology scenarios and how a technology transfer mechanism can be evolved,” says a senior official from Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Others hold the view that newer technologies need to be made a part of clean technology ambit. “Some of the technologies that developing countries immediately need to look at to fight climate change are solar, wind, biomass. But we also need to look at the scope of nuclear energy,” says Prodipto Ghosh, chairman, FICCI Climate Change Task Force. FICCI is also an organising conference partner.

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