An innovative framework for global climate policy beyond 2015

Principles for new framework

•     Unfair competition in clean energy markets, including internationally sanctioned compulsory licensing, limits innovation.
•    Climate policy should provide emerging clean energy technologies niche market support on a priority basis to overcome inherent market barriers to commercialization through the application of smart innovation-driven deployment policies.
•    Countries have differentiated policy responsibilities in achieving this goal depending on their level of development.
•     The important goal of climate policy should be to make the unsubsidized costs of clean energy cheaper than fossil fuels so that all countries apply clean energy because it makes economic sense.
•     Innovation of cheaper technologies and not deployment of existing high-priced technologies is the fundamental approach to achieve clean energy affordability.
•     Strong government support including significant investment for clean energy research development and demonstration (RD&D) is required to make energy technologies cheaper than fossil fuels.
•     The creations of large global clean energy markets require strong policies that provide adequate incentives and intellectual property protection for companies and entrepreneurs developing clean energy innovation.
•     Climate policy should not be mandatory for low-income countries to pay more for clean energy to provide much-needed energy access on the strength of carbon mitigation.

It is noted that the world faces two contradictory energy challenges, namely mitigating climate change and expanding affordable energy access to low-income countries

Reforms to existing policies

•     The UN and the World Bank and climate financing mechanisms like the Clean Technology Fund should shift their investment portfolios to limit funding for deployment of existing clean energy technologies and energy efficiency projects and prioritize supporting transformational energy technologies with financing for large-scale demonstration and deployment projects.
•     High-income countries should adopt policies for revenue raising to support clean energy innovation, including implementing a carbon tax, increasing oil and gas drilling fees and eliminating wasteful fossil fuel subsidies and use a portion of these revenues to support clean energy RD&D.
•    Instead of signing international agreements to limit carbon emissions, high-income and emerging countries should have the option to  participate by committing to invest in clean energy RD&D at an agreed upon share of GDP.
•    High-income countries should implement subsidies that are focused upon technology cost reduction and performance increases so that they support new technologies through commercial scales.
•     Low-income countries should collaborate with high-income countries and international institutions like the International Energy Agency (IEA) to support the testing and demonstration of next generation technologies, specially where it is affordable than fossil fuels. Emerging low-income countries can be locations for testing advanced energy technologies to strengthen global energy innovation ecosystem while increasing energy access in energy poor countries.
•     International institutions such as the World Bank and the UN should eliminate compulsory licensing in the future international climate agreements and stop supporting energy projects that include compulsory licensing of domestic content requirements.
•    The UN should redefine “modern energy access” to the equivalent of what high-income countries benefit today, sending a message that much more effort and innovation are required to advance solutions for global energy deficiency.

Conclusions

International climate negotiations scheduled in Paris in 2015 are focused on integration of countries’ past actions into a cohesive global agreement but most of the proposals reflect the unsuccessful actions of the past two decades