Participants around the world believe that it is crucial for the COP15 negotiations to give high priority to technology transfer and investments in order to meet climate targets.

OBSERVATIONS

• A large number of recommendations from WWViews participants on all six continents emphasise the importance of new technologies in meeting climate targets. Many recommendations stress that technology development and transfer are key to meeting strict climate targets and making a new climate deal achievable.

• Many recommendations call for making technologies cheaply or freely available to developing nations.

• Many participants see research and technology transfer as intrinsically linked to international funding mechanisms.

ASSESSMENTS

Participants have suggested different options, including government, private sector and international interventions involving technology development and transfer. The participants clearly want strong action on these issues at COP15.

Overall there is a strong undercurrent of equity running through most of the recommendations. For many participants it is vitally important that poorer nations have easy access to cheap and environmentally friendly technologies to help them grow sustainably.

There were no direct votes on technology. Instead citizens raised this issue in their recommendations without prompting. These views appear consistently across most of the countries that took part in WWViews, regardless of economic income, official government position or short-term vulnerability to climate change.

Individual recommendations differ in what type of technology development or transfer they advocate. Some stress the role of developed countries in researching and expanding their own investment in technology to meet stricter targets. Others highlight the role of international institutions in providing new funding or transferring technology from Annex 1 to developing countries. Still other recommendations emphasise the importance of developing locally sourced technology and energy in developing nations.