Uganda gets plenty of sun, making it a great spot for solar energy. There's only one problem: In one of the world's most impoverished nations, not many people can afford to install an imported solar panel on the roof.
Nations are struggling at a UN climate change conference to find better ways to get cheap, easy-to-use green technology into the hands of the developing world -- while balancing the demands of companies for profits.
Poorer countries accuse the rich of pressuring them to control emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, while refusing to provide them with technology needed to do so without hurting their economies.
Often, the wealthy nations use the developing world to unload outdated, polluting machinery, critics say. When developing nations do get projects, the technology is often prohibitively expensive, inappropriate to the country's needs, or controlled by the foreign providers.
"We know the challenges are there, but we cannot respond to the challenges because we don't have the capacity," said Ugandan Environment Minister Maria Mutagamba, adding that the country was "on the receiving end of technology that we cannot understand."
Wealthy countries, meanwhile, argue companies need protection for intellectual property rights, assurances they will have the opportunity to profit from their investments and better regulation and laws in host nations.
Industrialized countries deny they are unfairly withholding vital know-how from poorer nations.
"Let there be no doubt -- America is engaged in the transfer and receipt of technologies on a massive scale," said Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Poorer countries say their need for energy will only increase with economic growth, and reliance today on outdated technology will lock them into high-emissions patterns for decades to come.
"What is needed in the short to medium-term is for developed countries to speed up the process of transferring climate-sound technologies to developing countries," Ghanian Environment Minister Maxwell Kofi Jumah said. "Time is running out and more action is needed."
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
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