By Rachel Thrasher, Nagesh Kumar and Warren A Kaplan
Catalysing a global green transition to clean energy would weigh heavily on the minds of world leaders who have convened for the G-20 summit in New Delhi.
Not only is this a question of mobilising the vast finance necessary or enacting the right climate policies, but climate technology will need to be developed and diffused across the world so that countries at all income levels can contribute to global climate goals.
While this is a daunting task, there is, fortunately, already a tested model that policymakers can draw from: the extensive precedent set by access to medicines (ATM). ATM research has shown that intellectual property (IP) policies can lead to higher consumer prices and put constraints on government policy space. Just as with ATM, policies related to climate technology must address these challenges.
As a key advocate of the TRIPS waiver for Covid-19 products, and as it concludes its G-20 presidency, India is uniquely positioned to lead here.
Countries establish IP protection as a way to incentivise innovation as a public good, while balancing diffusion of specific innovations—often public goods themselves. Although IP law is a matter of national concern, there are global standards defined by the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and free trade agreements (FTAs) that apply to all but the least developed countries (LDCs).
Criticism of these standards is commonplace in the context of ATM, where a lack of adequate diffusion of medical technologies can be life-threatening to individuals and severely burden public health systems.
Three decades of ATM research has found that (1) stronger intellectual property (IP) protection leads to higher prices for consumers, (2) FTAs and the TRIPS Agreement put constraints on governments attempting to strike their own balance appropriate to their needs and (3) the political economy of how and why countries implement IP laws or sign trade agreements matters for how well a country is able to encourage ATM.
The climate crisis requires finding the optimal balance between rapid innovation and diffusion to protect the health and well-being of both individuals and the global community. Although “climate technology” is often inconsistently defined, it includes diverse categories, from technology for solar cells and modules and green ready-made garments to technology developed for the critical raw materials (CRM) supply chain and drought-resistant agricultural products.
Each of these, and more, are going to be essential for mitigating and adapting to climate change. The same three lessons about the impact of IP laws on ATM are likely to hold for the relationships in access to climate technology (ATCT).
Stronger IP protection, the presence of the TRIPS Agreement and FTAs and the political environment in which these are implemented, could all play a role in decreasing ATCT for the majority of the world.
Despite the concentration of the innovation in high-income economies and other constraints, however, emerging markets and developing countries have demonstrated that they are poised and ready to engage in climate technology development and innovation themselves—indeed, many are already doing so. The most well-known examples are Chinese and Indian development and deployment of solar panels and wind energy technology.
Less well known are the steps taken in Latin America to not only build up CRM supply chain but also develop downstream sectors from those commodities—as Ecuador has done by attempting to build a domestic industry in copper processing.
At a fundamental level, countries need access to climate technology both for their own development prospects and in order to contribute to the global project of combatting climate change. As global leaders, Indian policymakers already see the importance of prioritising access to essential products for public health and should seek to expand that goal of access in the context of climate technologies as well.
Like the pandemic, the climate crisis poses a threat to individual and global welfare, and the only way to combat it will be to see countries worldwide acquire the technology needed to meet the needs of their populations.
At the Summit, G-20 leaders should follow the important precedence set by ATM to ensure that IP rights do not come in the way of clean energy and green transition for the larger global public good and health of the planet.
Thrasher and Kaplan are associated with the Boston University Global Development Policy Center’s Global Economic Governance Initiative, and Kumar is director, ISID, New Delhi