The project "Obtaining, protecting and using essential environmental technologies: a holistic analysis" is led by Dr Abbe Brown, Lecturer in Information Technology Law and Associate, SCRIPT Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh. The project has been supported kindly by the British Academy, by SCRIPT and by the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh. 


CC attribution licence, taken by Jon... in 3D, via Flickr

The project will explore how best to secure wider and more equitable access to technology which can reduce emissions. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) (“UNFCC”) and Kyoto Protocol (1997) mandate states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The UNFCC’s Expert Group on Technology Transfer (2001) and Bali Action Plan (2007) called for enhanced action in technology development and transfer. Yet if these technologies are the subject of intellectual property (“IP”), the IP owner can control their use. Is this an inevitable reward for innovation, or should the rights of the IP owner be tempered, to enable more immediate action against climate change? The project will bring together a group of international experts from the wide range of fields relevant to development of and access to these technologies. It will explore means for innovation to be encouraged and shared, drawing on developments and lessons in health and communications. It will stimulate new scholarly and practical approaches to existing legal frameworks and explore possible change.