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This paper examines the organizational arrangements for technology supply in solar photovoltaic projects in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It shows that while lower middle-income countries typically import solar PV equipment into CDM projects, China, India and Thailand have begun to use new organizational arrangements for technology transfer which reflect the overall industry maturity in the solar PV sectors in these countries. This has great potential for long-term climate change mitigation efforts. However, the initiation of these new organizational arrangements often preceded the supply of technology into CDM projects. This raises important questions about the role of CDM in spearheading the development of technological capabilities required for sustainable development. The paper uses these findings to add to the literature about technology in CDM and to the wider policy debates over the future of the global climate regime. Technology transfer does not become less important as developing countries' capabilities mature, but the nature of technology transfer changes over time. This suggests a need to differentiate between countries at different levels of development. Lower middle-income countries may have greater needs for building technological capabilities whereas cooperative activities may be suitable for upper middle-income countries that already have capabilities to address climate change. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

As a significant energy consumer, China is under tremendous pressure from the international community to address climate change issues by reducing carbon emissions, thus, the use of clean energy is imperative. Wind power is an essential source of renewable energy, and improving the efficiency of wind power generation will contribute substantially to China’s ability to achieve its energy-saving and emission reduction goals. This paper measured the wind power efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2017 using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. Moran’s I index and the spatial Durbin model were applied to analyse the spatial distribution of the wind power efficiency and the spatial effects of influencing factors. The results show obvious differences in the spatial distribution of wind power efficiency in China, specifically, the wind power efficiency in the eastern and western regions is higher than that in the central areas. Moreover, wind power efficiency has a significant positive spatial correlation between regions: the eastern and western regions show certain high-high clustering characteristics, and the central area shows certain low-low clustering characteristics. Among the influencing factors, the fixed asset investment and carbon emission intensity of the wind power property have a negative impact on the efficiency of regional wind power production, while the urbanization process and carbon emission intensity have significant spatial spillover effects. The optimization of the economic structure, technological innovation and the construction of energy infrastructure are expected to improve the regional wind power efficiency. The results present a new approach for accurately identifying the spatial characteristics of wind power efficiency and the spatial effects of the influencing factors, thus providing a reference for policymakers.

Concerns about both climate change and energy security stress the importance of clean energy technologies. This paper examines the minerals used in clean energy technologies (mainly solar energy, wind energy and electric vehicles), of which 12 elements are identified to be dependent on resources outside China. Therefore, a quantitative, relative assessment of short-to medium-term supply risks is measured for 12 elements by analyzing the following factors: country concentration, import reliance, import concentration, country risk, depletion time, companion metal fraction, recycling potential and substitutability. The results highlight four elements to present a high risk, namely: tin, cobalt, chromium and nickel; while lithium, copper and titanium are the most impossible to encounter a supply disruption; the remaining five elements (silver, cadmium, zirconium, manganese and selenium) appear a moderate risk. An uncertainty analysis using Monte Carlo simulation shows a robust reliability on most of the 12 elements except for cobalt and tin. Mitigation strategies to alleviate the potential supply disruption are also discussed, such as broadening import sources; investing domestic and global mining; recycling and substitution; stockpiling.

International technology transfer is central to the debate about how to curb the carbon emissions from rapid economic growth in China and India. But given China and India's great progress in building innovation capabilities and green industries, how relevant is technology transfer for these countries? This paper seeks insights from three green technology sectors in both countries: wind power, solar energy and electric and hybrid vehicles. We find that, conventional technology transfer mechanisms such as foreign direct investments and licensing, were important for industry formation and take-off. However, as these sectors are catching up, new ‘unconventional technology transfer mechanisms’ such as R&D partnerships and acquisition of foreign firms have become increasingly important. We argue that there is limited practical and analytical mileage left in the conventional approach to technology transfer in these sectors in China and India. We argue that the emphasis should shift from transfer of mitigation technology to international collaboration and local innovation