The past thirty days have given those who follow developments in innovation policy quite a bit of material. First, on March 29th, a US district court (SDNY) held that neither isolated genes nor methods of analyzing or comparing genes were patentable subject matter in Association for Molecular Pathology v. US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). … Read More.
The first set of 2010 climate change negotiations under the UNFCCC concluded in Bonn, Germany (April 9-11th) with no progress apparent on the Technology Mechanism referenced in Paragraph 11 of the 2009 Copenhagen Accord. In fact, the only real outcome of the meeting appears to be an agreement to hold two additional meetings for both … Read More.
Heard of the Yes Men? They are the incredibly straight-faced and gutsy duo that dare to go on the BBC TV and Radio, claiming to be from Dow Chemicals and announcing that Dow will compensate the victims of the Bhopal, India catastrophe with $12 billion from selling all assets related to Union Carbide Corp. Dow … Read More.
With the debate around patents and climate change-related technologies at Copenhagen last December, it became easy to forget that there are many low-cost and clean renewable energy technologies available in the public domain. A recent UN meeting highlighted how these technologies can revolutionize the way of life for rural communities Over 90% of rural Africa … Read More.
The World Bank, along with two other NGOs, held a panel discussion today on the trade implications of the ongoing climate negotiations. The final presentation, on Technology Transfer and Climate Change was the most substantive, as detailed below. The presentations did not address either labeling schemes, standards, border carbon adjustments, or subsidies. For an in … Read More.
The October 23rd issue of Science has an interesting study, “Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error,” in which the authors contend that across-the-board exemption of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from bioenergy — the use of plant materials known as biomass for the production of renewable fuels — is improper in greenhouse gas regulations, if emissions … Read More.