Speaking yesterday at the Copenhagen climate conference, Department of Energy head Stephen Chu announced a $350 million plan to promote and deploy clean energy technologies in developing countries. Dubbed the Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (REDI), the plan is the product of the Major Economies Forum (MEF), a grouping of industrialized countries that represent more than 85 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. will contribute $85 million to the plan over five years.

We’re happy to report that solar-powered devices feature prominently. REDI has four main parts (from the DOE press release):

• The Solar and LED Energy Access Program will accelerate deployment of affordable solar home systems and LED lanterns to those without access to electricity.  This program will yield immediate economic and public health benefits by providing households with low-cost and quality-assured solar alternatives to expensive and polluting kerosene.
• The Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment Program will harness the market and convening power of MEF countries to improve efficiency for appliances traded throughout the world.  A number of MEF countries have implemented, or are exploring, incentive programs for energy-efficient appliances. Coordinating incentives, standards and labeling systems can create unprecedented economies of scale for these appliances.
• The Clean Energy Information Platform will establish an online platform for MEF countries to exchange technical resources, policy experience and the infrastructure to coordinate various activities in deploying clean energy technologies, and share this information with the world.
• The Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program (S-REP), under the World Bank’s Strategic Climate Fund, will provide policy support and technical assistance to low-income countries developing national renewable energy strategies and underwrite additional capital costs associated with renewable energy investments.  Funding through Climate REDI will accelerate the launch of S-REP.

In the context of the Copenhagen talks, the announcement of REDI is significant. But it will likely fail to satisfy developing country demands. Developing economies — which are both the least responsible for rising levels of atmospheric CO2 and the least capable of coping with the detrimental effects of climate change — condition their participation in an international agreement on assistance from the developed world.

This means two things: (1) cash, and (2) technology. At Copenhagen, representatives from developing countries have put the first condition in the hundreds of billions of dollars in long-term assistance. If you expect us not to burn tons of coal, the argument goes, you’d better help us find and fund viable alternatives. Which brings us to the second condition: that of technology transfer. Without clean-energy technologies — most of which are developed and patented in developed economies — developing nations have few alternative to dirtier forms of energy.

For their part, developed economies want to ensure that, if money is committed, it doesn’t go into a black hole, with no verifiable emissions reductions to show for their efforts. They also want to avoid transferring high-tech energy products to countries with week protections on intellectual property — places where a nifty new wind turbine could easily be reverse engineered and reproduced at the expense of the original patent holder. I’m generalizing here, but you get the idea.

Against this background, REDI resembles an effort to address both the cash and the technology issue. As to whether it’ll be enough, on its own, to bring around developing-country negotiators, I remain doubtful.