This brief 8-page document addresses the “why” of international technology collaboration — the basic reasons why global technology policies – for product development — beyond cap and trade are needed for stabilization. The paper reviews the major reasons why the world needs coordinated and collaborative climate technology innovation and product development – in addition to emissions cap and trading. To simplify core principles, this paper explains why technology innovation is needed and why countries should pursue complementary technology innovation policies on a coordinated, global basis. The paper supports the arguments with experts’ quotations and then provides a comprehensive list of citations and key reports for further reading on each point in the Appendix.

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Source: Clean Energy Group
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This one-page document explains the reasons to consider a new international climate innovation facility to meet the challenges of climate recovery.

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Source: Clean Energy Group
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This paper recommends “how” an international technology collaboration could be structured. It proposes using “virtual” and low cost “distributed innovation” and Internet-based tools to accelerated technology cooperation and change – in the same way most major corporations today create collaborative products with partners outside their companies. It argues that climate policy makers should use these corporate strategies in climate, and accelerate global product development in low carbon technologies at a scale and in the time frames needed for stabilization – and to do so using new structures outside the existing institutions. This is a joint paper with the Meridian Institute and the Center for European Policy Studies.

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Source: Clean Energy Group
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• Community R&D Information Service (CORDIS). “Patent Forum Asks How IPRs Can Help Solve Climate Problem,” May 8, 2008. Available at the CORDIS website. (Developing countries defend IPRs as necessary to stimulate and reward innovation, whereas developed countries see IPRs as a barrier to technology transfer. However, to date the debates over the role of IPRs in clean technology development and transfer have been largely theoretical.)
• De Boer, Yvo. “Inventing a Cleaner Future: Climate Change and the Opportunity for Intellectual Property,” Presentation at the European Patent Forum 2008, May 7, 2008. Available at the EPO.org website. (A revolutionary international clean energy technology mechanism must address all stages of the technology cycle, from innovation to application, with consideration of funding and policy for each stage. A special patent regime for climate change might include public ownership of IPRs and public-private partnerships in purchasing commitments, voluntary buy-outs of IPRs, and compulsory licensing.)
• Georghiou, Luke. “ Europe ’s Research System Must Change,” Commentary, Nature, April 2008. (To more effectively address Europe ’s economic, social, and environmental goals, research must be more effectively coordinated with policy and regulation setting.)
• G8 Summit Declaration 2007, Growth and Responsibility in the World Economy, available at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/92264.pdf. (In Heiligendamm, the G8 countries agreed to urgently develop and deploy clean energy technologies in all areas of energy production and use and to collaboratively accelerate the widespread adoption of clean energy technologies in developing economies.)
• Kahn, Debra. “More than Half of State’s Emissions Cuts to be Achieved Through Regulation.” Climate Wire, May 14, 2008. ( California plans to give direct regulation a larger role than emissions trading in fighting climate change, with a majority of emissions reductions coming from regulations on specific sectors of the economy.)
• Pearce, Fred. “Dirty, Sexy Money,” New Scientist, April 19, 2008. (Cap and trade systems may deliver big profits while doing little to curb climate change.)
• Peilke, Roger, Tom Wigely, and Christopher Green. “Dangerous Assumptions,” Commentary, Nature, April 2008. (Technological advances needed to stabilize carbon dioxide emissions may be much greater than previously believed. Policy must focus directly on motivating technological innovation.)
• Revkin, Andrew C. “The Technology Gap in the Climate Debate,” New York Times, Dot Earth (blog), April 2, 2008. Available at http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/the-technology-gap-in-the-climate-debate/. (As economists, scientists, and energy policy experts increasingly criticize existing approaches to climate stabilization, the relative merits of markets, science, and personal behavior need to be explored.)
• Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “ Europe Turns Back to Coal, Raising Climate Fears.” New York Times, April 23, 2008. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/europe/23coal.html?hp. (Faced with rising energy demand, soaring oil and natural gas prices, energy security concerns, and political opposition to nuclear energy, European countries plan to build about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years—plants with operating lives of some five decades.)
• Xinhua Press. “ China Calls for Technology Transfer, Fund to Address Climate Change.” Thaindian News, April 24, 2008. Available at http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/china-calls-for-technology-transfer-fund-to-address-climate-change_10041560.html. (Emphasizing that breakthrough technologies are crucial to stabilizing the climate, a senior Chinese official has called on the international community to develop a mechanism for clean energy technology development and transfer.)

• The Clean Energy Group/Meridian proposal titled “Climate Technology Innovation: a New Strategy and Structure,” outlines a new approach to the climate innovation process. Also included for consideration is a short CEG paper addressing the topic of “picking technology winners.”

• A paper by Mutsuyoshi Nishimura, Senior Advisor to the Cabinet, Japanese Prime Minister’s Office titled “Innovation Strategies to Achieve GHG Peak and Decline: A Proposal” calls for a new climate mechanism on technology innovation; unfortunately, he was not able to attend the meeting but was kind enough to write some of his perspectives and will participate in future work.

• Richard Benedick, former Ambassador to the US who negotiated the Montreal Protocol, in a paper titled “Confronting Climate Change: The Technology Imperative,” writes that world leaders must finally and frankly assess the uncomfortable lessons of the Kyoto Protocol and that arbitrary short-term emission targets will not promote the revolution in energy technology research, development, and diffusion that is essential to avoiding potentially catastrophic climate change.

• Jill Panetta, co-founder of InnoCentive, has written a paper titled “Distributed R&D,” explaining how distributed innovation processes can be applied to the private corporate sector’s work on product innovation.

• Sasha Mackler, Associate Technical Director, and Tracy Terry, Technical Director, of the National Commission on Energy Policy have enclosed a summary, "Overview of NCEP Projects Focusing on Energy Technology Policy," of their ongoing projects regarding new technology based approaches in the U.S. as well as the need for new institutions to manage these new technology programs.

The objectives of the meeting were as follows:

• To apply lessons learned from fields other than climate and energy to technology innovation, product development, and deployment challenges in the climate and energy sector.
• To begin developing a practical proposal based on distributed innovation strategies, which are being applied in other sectors, for accelerating the development and deployment of clean energy technology at the pace and scale demanded by climate change.
• To outline the organizational elements of a new, independent, and nimble structure that could execute these new strategies.

Meeting Documents

• Download the Complete Meeting Summary (to be posted soon)
• Download the Participants List
• Download the Meeting Agenda

File Type: PDF
Source: Clean Energy Group

• Meeting Objectives (PDF) by Clean Energy Group and Meridian Institute
• Climate Technology Challenges: Low Carbon Coal Case Study (PDF) by Joe Chaisson, Clean Air Task Force
• Climate Technology Innovation: A Working Proposal for a New Global Strategy and Structure (PDF) by Lew Milford and Dan Dutcher, Clean Energy Group, and Todd Barker, Meridian Institute
• Overview of International Climate Process (PDF) by Christian Egenhofer, Center for European Policy Studies
• Distributed Innovation, (PDF) by Jill Panetta, Consultant and Co-Founder of InnoCentive
• Distributed Innovation for Climate Technology (PDF) by Sara Boettiger, University of California at Davis
• The Generation Challenge Programme (PDF) by Theo van Hintum, Wageningen University and Research Centre
• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (PDF) by Michael Madnick, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Policy Support of Energy Technology Innovation (PDF) by Frank N. Laird, Denver University

This meeting was organized by Clean Energy Group, the Meridian Institute, and Clean Air Task Force with funding by the UK environmental agency DEFRA.

The following meeting documents are available to download:

• Meeting Summary
• Meeting Agenda and Participants
• Presentations
• Documents and Reports 

This new report from The Brookings Insitution details how "innovation drives America’s economic growth and ultimately determines its living standards and those of its metropolitan areas. However, the nation faces a growing innovation challenge in today’s global economy. To respond, the federal government should establish a National Innovation Foundation (NIF)—a new, nimble, lean, and collaborative entity devoted to supporting firms and other organizations in their innovative activities. By enhancing America’s world-class entrepreneurial and market environment, NIF would boost the nation’s innovation leadership for the 21st century and raise productivity and incomes. Moreover, by supporting workforce development and performance improvement in firms, NIF would help create better jobs for high school graduates in manufacturing and “low tech” services as well as those with advanced degrees in high technology industries."

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Source: The Brookings Institution

[Press Release] European Commission agreed on 23 January 2008 to a far-reaching package of proposals that will deliver the European Council’s commitments to fight climate change and promote renewable energy. These measures will dramatically increase the use of renewable energy in each country and set legally enforceable targets for governments to achieve them. All major CO2 emitters will be given an incentive to develop clean production technologies through a thorough reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) that will impose an EU-wide cap on emissions. The package seeks to deliver the European Union to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 20% and increases to 20% the share of renewable energies in the energy consumption by 2020, as agreed by EU leaders in March 2007. The emissions reduction will be increased to 30% by 2020 when a new global climate change agreement is reached.

The full proposal can be found by clicking here.