Many developing countries may miss out on the benefits of the
“green tech” revolution unless governments and the international
community take decisive action now, the head of the UN Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Thursday, releasing its
latest report.
“We are at the beginning of a technological
revolution based on green
technologies,” UNCTAD Secretary-General
Rebeca Grynspan said. “This new wave of technological change will
have a formidable impact on the global
economy.”
The 17 frontier technologies covered
in UNCTAD’s Technology and Innovation Report
2023 have the potential to create market revenues of
more than $9.5 trillion by 2030, about three times the size of
India’s economy today.
Coherent action
Used to produce goods and services with smaller
carbon footprints, the new wave of green technologies
spans artificial
intelligence to electric
vehicles.
The report calls for coherent policy
action to enable developing countries
to profit from green tech or risk
facing growing economic inequalities, as developed countries reap
most of the benefits.
“Developing countries must capture more of the value being
created in this technological revolution to grow their
economies,” Ms. Grynspan said. “Missing this
technological wave because of insufficient policy
attention or lack of targeted investment in building
capacities would have long-lasting negative
implications.”
Early adopters advance faster
While green tech exports from developing nations
rose to $75 billion from $57 billion between 2018
and 2021, their share of the global market
fell to 33 per cent from 48 per cent. During the
same period, green exports from developed countries jumped to
$156 billion from $60 billion.
UNCTAD’s analysis shows that developing countries
must act quickly and move to a development
trajectory leading to more diversified, productive, and
competitive economies. Previous technological revolutions have
shown that early adopters can move ahead
quicker and create lasting advantages.
Wanted: agency and urgency
Proactive industrial, innovation, and
energy policies targeting green technologies are
needed in developing countries so they can benefit
from the green tech revolution, said Shamika N. Sirimanne,
director of UNCTAD's technology and logistics division.
“Developing countries need agency and urgency in coming up with
the right policy responses,” she said. “As developing countries
respond to today’s urgent interconnected crises, they also need
to take strategic, long-term action to
build innovation and technological capacities to spur sustainable
economic growth and increase their resilience to
future crises.”
UNCTAD calls on governments in developing countries
to align environmental, science, technology,
innovation, and industrial policies, and urges them to
prioritize investment in greener and more complex sectors and
provide incentives to shift consumer demand towards greener
goods.
The report also calls for an international programme
to guarantee purchases of tradable green items,
coordinated green technology research at the multinational level,
increased support for regional centres of
excellence for green technologies and innovation,
and a multilateral fund to stimulate
green innovations and enhance cooperation between countries.
‘Least ready’ countries
The report’s “frontier technology readiness
index” shows that very few developing countries have the
capacities needed to profit from such green tech as blockchain,
drones, gene editing, nanotechnology, and solar power.
Ranking 166 countries based on ICT, skills, research and
development, industrial capacity, and finance indicators, the
index is dominated by such high-income economies as the
Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden and the United States. It also
shows that countries in Latin America, the Caribbean
and sub-Saharan Africa are the least ready to
harness frontier technologies and are at
risk of missing current technological
opportunities.
