News facts
Songdo, South Korea - During the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Regional Programming Dialogue with Asia and the Pacific (7 - 11 August 2023) CTCN and GCF co-hosted a regional “Structured Dialogue Sessions for NDEs and NDAs” to strengthen linkages between climate technology and finance in Asia and the Pacific.
As nations increasingly look at innovation and technology to find new sustainable solutions to reach their climate actions and net zero targets, stronger coordination between the UNFCCC financial mechanism (FM) and the technology mechanisms (TM) becomes more and more pressing.
The three-day event was intended both as a joint CTCN - GCF response to the Parties’ requests on creating linkages between mechanisms, and as an action to strengthen alliances between stakeholders at the national level and across mechanisms.
Addressing the needs of the UNFCCC national designated entities (NDEs) and the GCF national designated authorities (NDAs), this joint session aimed to:
- Identify ways to enhance information-sharing and streamline coordination processes among NDEs, NDAs, and operational focal points of financing agencies, emphasizing the importance of continued coordination among national focal points;
- Test approaches and map ways to strengthen the engagement of stakeholders; and
- Identify means for enhancing cooperation between NDEs and NDAs.
Climate technology and finance: building a stronger link
All stakeholders in the climate ecosystem understand the importance of linking different mechanisms for long-term and effective climate system transformation. However, the lack of opportunities to seek internal consensus on and coherence of climate projects at the national level hinders progress in strengthening the linkage between mechanisms. Through this event, CTCN and GCF joined forces to close the gap between UNFCCC focal point representatives, by allowing them to co-ideate the next Technical Assistance projects in a space where technical support and guidance are easy to access already in the co-ideation phase.
“This event brings together climate technology and climate finance, two foundational UNFCCC pillars of systems transformation for climate action, and responds to COP decision on cooperative action on technology development and transfer between GCF and CTCN. When it comes to climate innovation we share the same goals, we just need to finetune the pathways and instruments that will allow us to get there,” noted Surachai Sathitkunarat, Vice President of NXPO, NDE, Thailand.
To bridge this gap, and strengthen alliances, the event brought all parties involved in climate technology and finance under the same roof. National representatives shared and understood the different capacities and readiness needed to design and implement national systems of transformation and digitalization across the 5 system transformation areas, and how international collaboration and RD&D opportunities can enhance access to finance mechanisms as well as pro-bono and in-kind support.
“Climate finance can ensure climate technology and innovation can organically evolve from climate programming to pilot projecting and scalability, while strengthening national systems of innovation and partnerships in climate technology RD&D,” Suil Kang, Coordination Officer, CTCN.
CTCN provided a clear outline of the processes in place to meet countries where they are and provide technical assistance (TA) within their different level of readiness, ranging from countries with no technical assistance experience to countries with TA-driven GCF readiness projects (and anything in between).
During the Dialogue, the NDE representatives from Thailand, Bangladesh, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste shared their journeys from planning and implementing CTCN TAs to GCF readiness proposals, highlighting the different steps and the complementarity of CTCN-led actions in terms of technical assistance, capacity building, and networking, as well as the role of collaborative RD&D leading up to the GCF readiness proposal.
The event also looked at climate technology gaps in existing projects hindering access to further finance, as well as opportunities for collaboration with high potential for scaling up.
“The interconnection between climate finance and climate technology is essential. For countries considering accessing the GCF’s Readiness Support grant, it is strongly recommended to incorporate RD&D and scalability, emanating from the TNA outcomes, from the earliest stages, which would result in stronger coherence across national climate actions,” Hansol Park, Climate Policy and Governance Specialist, GCF.
The event was just the first of a series that will involve also other regions and regional stakeholders to ensure the linkages to climate finance are nurtured and become an integral part of climate technology planning and implementation. Next in the line is the African region in September 2023.