A new publication brings together a diversity of viewpoints on pathways to realising technology development and transfer in support of the Paris Agreement, in a collaboration between the UNFCCC Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), the UNEP DTU Partnership and UNFCCC Secretariat.

This 'Perspectives' publication focuses on how to close the gap between technology needs and implementation in support of Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement. What are the pathways to realising technology development and transfer? And what are the main opportunities for, and constraints to, progress?

These questions are addressed by a diversity of authors, who offer their evidence-based views and opinions applied to their technology or sector-specific area of expertise. In doing so, the collection aims to stimulate, or contribute to, relevant debates in the area of climate technology development and transfer in the Global South.

In this collection, 'implementation' is defined as something broader than investment in low-carbon and climate resilient development, though investment is ultimately what is needed, at scale, if countries are to meet their NDC targets.

Much of the analysis in the articles seeks to understand the relative influence of top-down government-driven policy and planning as well as a diverse set of bottom-up push and pull factors that influence technology agendas, supply and demand.

Understanding the driving forces behind technology transfer and implementation in developing countries

How can we close the gap between national, regional and global climate technology needs and actual implementation? Who are the responsible parties from the global to local levels? And how are local needs taken into account, including the interests and preferences of technology end-users?

Several articles in the publication focus on cleaner energy technologies, central to global climate change mitigation efforts, where we note the fast pace of socio-technical and economic change that has occurred.

However, there are inherent limitations to the role of market forces in kick-starting technological transitions and it is widely recognised that the State has a central role to play in creating new markets and pushing socially and environmentally beneficial technologies along the innovation-cost curve.

The articles in this publication offer a deeper and more nuanced understandings of how technology transitions can occur and how best to navigate these in the Global South. This includes significance of unintended or indirect benefits from technological innovation and growth in unrelated markets.