The Clean Development Mechanism and the International Diffusion of Technologies: An Empirical Study

Antoine Dechezleprêtre (1) , Matthieu Glachant (1) , Yann Ménière (1)

1 CERNA i3 - Centre d'économie industrielle i3

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is expected to stimulate the North-South transfer of climate-friendly technologies. This paper provides an assessment of the technology transfers that take place through the CDM using a unique data set of 644 registered projects. It provides a detailed description of the transfers (frequency, type, by sector, by host country, etc.). It also includes an econometric analysis of their drivers. We show that transfer likeliness increases with the size of the projects. The transfer probability is 50% higher in projects implemented in a subsidiary of Annex 1 companies while the presence of an official credit buyer has a lower-albeit positive-impact. The analysis also yields interesting results on how technological capabilities of the host country influence technology diffusion in the CDM.

Mots clés: Kyoto Protocol; Clean Development Mechanism; International Technology Transfer

Mots clés: Protocole de Kyoto; Mécanisme de Développement Propre; Transfert International de Technologie

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Economies et finances

Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Matthieu Glachant, Yann Ménière. The Clean Development Mechanism and the International Diffusion of Technologies: An Empirical Study. Energy Policy, 2008, 36 (4), pp.1273-1283. ⟨10.1016/j.enpol.2007.12.009⟩. ⟨hal-00397198⟩