Against the backdrop of the enhanced importance of technology transfer in the context of the ongoing climate change negotiations, the potential of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as a vehicle for technology transfer has been underscored. This study undertakes an empirical exploration of the extent to which the CDM is contributing to technology transfer and what is the nature of that technology transfer. The study presents an operational definition of technology transfer in the context of the CDM and applies this definition to a dataset of the first 1000 registered CDM projects. The core finding that emerges from the study is that the contribution of the CDM to technology transfer can at best be regarded as minimal.