News facts
Following the Paris Agreement, the Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN) and the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) emphasized a focus on enhancement of endogenous capacities and technologies, RD&D, and climate technology financing. Both arms of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism were represented at an event on climate technologies on 19 May at the UN climate change conference in Bonn to provide an overview of technology transfer in both the policy and implementation arenas.
Mr. Michael Rantil of Sweden, TEC Vice-Chair, presented the TECS’s three year plan for taking forward the Paris outcomes, which included analysing important technology issues and providing policy recommendations; promoting synergies within the Technology Mechanism itself; and supporting technology and finance cooperation to scale up implementation of actions. A workshop is set for 21 May to discuss modalities for collaboration between the Financial and Technology Mechanisms.
The CTCN Chair, Mr. Spencer Thomas of Grenada, highlighted that 139 developing countries have referenced technology in their intended nationally determined contributions, or INDCs, and more than 100 Parties have stated that they need international support for technology development and transfer to implement their INDC. The CTCN has recently completed its first batch of technical assistance in response to developing country requests for both adaptation and mitigation technology transfer. It has received 106 such requests since its launch in 2014. CTCN Director, Jukka Uosukainen, stated that “by engaging the expertise of interested technology experts from around the world to provide both technical assistance and capacity building, the CTCN facilitates technology transfer tailored to the specified needs of countries”.
Sara Traerup of CTCN Consortium partner UNEP DTU Partnership shared insights on the numerous technical assistance projects that UNEP DTU is delivering at the request of developing countries. She stressed the importance of continued capacity building, technology road maps and effective monitoring systems to ensure successful implementation. Ms. Supak Virunhakarun, Senior Policy Researcher in Thailand’s Department of Energy and Environment spoke on behalf of Thailand’s NDE to describe the technology transfer collaboration that they are engaged in together with the CTCN. In addition to ongoing technical assistance being provided to Thailand by the CTCN in the areas of early warning/environmental assessments (2 projects) and energy use (1 project), Thailand itself is providing CTCN technical assistance to Bhutan in support of their efforts to reform the Bhutanese transport sector. In this example of south-south transfer, Thailand has offered guidance to Bhutanese officials as well as demonstration of its own transportation development.