Rethinking Technology Transfer to Support the Climate Agenda

(SDG/IISD, Winnipeg, 8 November 2023) 2022 was a milestone in global power energy markets. For the first time, total investment in renewable power generation and related products matched or slightly exceeded investment in fossil fuel production. By some estimates, global investment in clean energy could reach USD 1.7 trillion in 2023, led by solar, wind, and electric vehicles (EVs). But the projected growth in low-carbon technologies remains concentrated in a handful of countries or regions – mainly those with the size and fiscal space to promote the green industrial policies that are re-shaping global trade in low-carbon technologies. Overall investment in renewable energy in the majority of emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) remains low. We need to ensure trade finance plays a bigger role in renewable energy trade. Although estimates vary, roughly 85 national export credit agencies (ECAs) together provide over USD 200 billion, most by offering export credit guarantees, insurance, hedging, and other instruments that together leverage as much as USD 1.5 trillion. The OECD Common Approaches, first adopted a decade ago and revised in 2021, are now lagging behind widening targets and practices, and need to be updated to align with the Paris Agreement.