CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES
Fourth session
Buenos Aires, 2-13 November 1998
Agenda item 4 (c)

        The Conference of the Parties,

        Recalling the relevant provisions of the program for the further implementation of Agenda 21 on the transfer of environmentally sound technologies adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its nineteenth special session, and decision 6/3 of the Commission on Sustainable Development,

        Further recalling the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including its Article 4.1, 4.3, 4.5, 4.7, 4.8 and 4.9 and Articles 9.2, 11.1, 11.5, 12.3 and 12.4,

        Noting that reports are under preparation which will contribute substantially to the understanding of technology transfer issues, including the secretariat technical papers on terms of transfer and adaptation technologies, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on technology transfer,

        Recognizing the need for continued efforts by Parties to promote and cooperate in the development, application, diffusion and transfer of technologies,

        Recognizing that the private sector plays, in some countries, an important role in the development, transfer and finance of technologies, and that the creation of enabling environments at all levels provides a platform to support the development, use and transfer of environmentally sound technologies and know-how,

        Having considered the progress reports presented by the Convention secretariat on the development and transfer of technologies,

        Recalling and reaffirming its decisions 13/CP.1, 7/CP.2 and 9/CP.3,

        1. Agrees that strengthening the capacities and capabilities of developing country Parties to address climate change will help these Parties to contribute to the ultimate objective of the Convention and to achieve sustainable development;

        2. Encourages all relevant international organizations to mobilize and facilitate efforts to provide financial resources needed by developing country Parties to meet their agreed incremental costs, including development and transfer of technologies, enhancement of endogenous capacities, implementation of such measures as improving energy efficiency, exploiting renewable energies, enhancing sinks and preparing for adaptation to adverse effects of climate change;

        3. Requests Parties included in Annex II to the Convention (Annex II Parties):

        (a) To take all practicable steps to promote, facilitate and finance, as appropriate, the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and know-how to developing country Parties and their access thereto;

        (b) To support capacity-building and the strengthening of appropriate institutions in developing countries to enable the transfer of environmentally sound technologies;

        4. Further requests Parties included in Annex I to the Convention (Annex I Parties), and in particular Annex II Parties:

        (a) To assist developing country Parties in their efforts to build capacity and institutional frameworks to improve energy efficiency and utilization of renewable energies through multilateral and bilateral cooperative efforts;

        (b) To provide assistance to developing country Parties to build capacity for sustainable management, conservation and enhancement, as appropriate, of sinks and reservoirs of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, including biomass, forests and oceans as well as other terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems;

        (c) To assist developing country Parties to build capacity to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change;

        (d) To assist developing country Parties to strengthen their endogenous capacities and capabilities in the areas of technological and socio-economic research and systematic observation relevant to climate change and its associated adverse effects;

        (e) Taking into account Article 6 of the Convention, to cooperate in and promote capacity-building of developing country Parties at the international, regional, sub-regional and national levels through cooperation programs supported by United Nations and other multilateral agencies, as well as bilateral agencies;

        5. Requests all Parties to enhance reporting in their national communications of technology cooperation and transfer activities and invites Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention (non-Annex I Parties) to include, where possible, their technology needs;

        6. Encourages Parties to implement practical cooperation programs and projects to promote and facilitate the transfer of technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and facilitate adaptation to climate change and its adverse effects, while supporting sustainable development;

        7. Urges:

        (a) Annex I Parties, in their technology transfer activities, to take into account support for the development and enhancement of the endogenous capacities and technologies of developing country Parties;

        (b) Annex II Parties to provide, as appropriate, for reference by developing country Parties, a list of environmentally sound technologies and know-how related to adaptation to and mitigation of climate change that are publicly owned, and report in their national communications steps taken to implement Article 4.5 of the Convention;

        (c) Non-Annex I Parties, in the light of their social and economic conditions, to submit their prioritized technology needs, especially those relating to key technologies to address climate change in particular sectors of their national economies, taking into account state-of-the-art environmentally sound technologies;

        (d) Both developed and developing country Parties to create an enabling environment, as referred to in paragraph 2(e) of decision 6/3 of the Commission on Sustainable Development, to stimulate private sector investment in the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and know-how to developing countries and to promote the implementation of endogenous know-how;

        8. Invites all Parties and interested international and non-governmental organizations to identify projects and programs incorporating cooperative approaches to the transfer of technologies which they believe can serve as models for improving the diffusion and implementation of clean technologies under the Convention, and to provide information thereon to the secretariat, by 15 March 1999, for compilation into a miscellaneous document to be considered by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice at its tenth session;

        9. Requests the Chairman of the SBSTA to establish a consultative process to consider the list of issues and questions contained in the annex to this decision, as well as any additional issues and questions subsequently identified by Parties, and to make recommendations on how they should be addressed in order to achieve agreement on a framework for meaningful and effective actions to enhance implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention. Such a process should also consider issues identified in the secretariat progress report on transfer of technology1and in submissions from Parties. The consultative process could include, resources permitting, regional meetings, regional workshops and a SBSTA workshop, arranged with the assistance of the secretariat and drawing upon the roster of experts and, as appropriate, experts engaged in the IPCC process;

        10. Further requests the Chairman of the SBSTA to report on the outcome of the consultative process to the SBSTA at its eleventh session, with a view to recommending a decision for adoption by the Conference of the Parties at its fifth session;

        11. Invites Parties to provide submissions to the secretariat, by 15 March 1999, on how the issues and questions listed in the annex to this decision should be addressed, as well as additional suggestions for issues and questions;

        12. Requests the Convention secretariat:

        (a) To continue its work on the synthesis and dissemination of information on environmentally sound technologies and know-how conducive to mitigating, and adapting to, climate change, and in so doing   to complete its ongoing activities for 1999 as defined in the secretariat progress report;2

        (b) In preparing the budget for the next biennium, to give priority to activities on the theme of building the capacity of Parties to enhance the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, as defined in the secretariat progress report,2 including assessing and synthesizing information on environmentally sound technologies and know-how, and in so doing to identify specific tasks;

        (c) To further strengthen its activities in support of capacity-building in developing country Parties with regard to the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and know-how.

1  FCCC/CP/1998/6.
2  Ibid.