Technology Transfer – a WTO thematic session.

On April 1st, 2025, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) held its first thematic session dedicated to technology transfer. It featured a range of speakers, including Per Andersson, Head of Secretariat at LeadIT. The discussion covered challenges and opportunities in environmental technology transfer, fostering experience-sharing among international organizations, member governments, and the private sector.

Speakers identified several key barriers to effective technology transfer, including:

• High costs and technical requirements
• Gaps in supply, demand, and intellectual property/knowledge
• The need for adequate funding and innovative financing mechanisms
• Limited stakeholder engagement and trust
• Infrastructure constraints
• Market size limitations for technology absorption

A dedicated session on “Tools, Mechanisms, and Frameworks” showcased best practices and successful approaches. Per Andersson presented LeadIT’s work in supporting real-world technology co-development among peer companies. He emphasized how multi-stakeholder and cross-regional collaboration can create enabling environments for joint innovation. Country-level partnerships, such as the India-Sweden Industry Transition Partnership, were highlighted as effective models. Such partnerships provide the political vision, facilitation, and coordinated support needed for companies to jointly develop and implement technologies to decarbonize the most hard-to-abate sectors.

Delegates underscored the importance of tailored solutions that reflect local contexts, supported by enabling conditions such as skilled labor, investment, and appropriate regulatory frameworks. Concrete recommendations for WTO action were made, including improved coordination and knowledge-sharing with relevant international organizations, and more targeted technical assistance through existing frameworks like Aid for Trade.

This session was part of a thematic series launched in November 2023 at the request of WTO members. The series aims to deepen understanding of key trade-environment issues through practical case studies and shared experiences. Previous sessions have addressed topics such as the clean energy transition and trade-related climate measures.

All presentations and the co-moderators’ report from the 5th thematic session are available here