What is ICS?
The Innovative Climate Solutions (ICS) Programme, funded by the European Commission, supports developing countries in transformative change using innovative climate technologies, specifically focused on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The Euro 2 million programme presents an opportunity to connect to the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge agreed to at COP28.
Climate change is a complex and urgent issue that demands a coordinated, global response to drive technology innovation, investment, and deployment on an unprecedented scale to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve resilience to the effects of climate change.
The capacity of each country to respond to climate change varies widely in terms of institutions, resources, and networks for this technological innovation to occur fast enough, last longer, and deliver tangible results. The ICS Programme identifies specific needs in these countries, depending on their needs, abilities and the climate goals laid out in their respective national climate plans and strategies (NDCs).
The CTCN prioritises innovative projects where the impact of technologies can be amplified by strengthening national systems of innovation and digitalization capacity, hence forming a solid base for accelerating progress towards net-zero goal and long-term climate action. The grants support countries which are most vulnerable and least equipped to respond to climate change.
“We can still limit warming to 1.5°C but this requires unprecedented system transformations. For net-zero around 2050, system transitions are needed, enabled by conditions such as technology.”
- IPCC 6th Assessment Report
The Programme pilots are being implemented in these countries:
Context
The transfer of technologies encompasses a broad set of processes covering the flows of know-how, experience and equipment for mitigating and adapting to climate change amongst different stakeholders, such as governments, private sector entities, financial institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and research/education institutions.
The CTCN works to increase these flows of know-how, experience and equipment and improve the quality of assistance by adopting inclusive and innovative approaches based on learnings from our decade of operation.
The European Commission’s support to the CTCN will accelerate the transfer, development, and deployment of carbon neutral and climate adaptation technologies in the most vulnerable countries. The EU as the industrial lead in the fast-growing net-zero technology sector will support developing countries to materialise its decarbonisation pathways to achieve climate targets. For instance, through a twinning arrangement, leading EU innovative clean tech companies can work together with enterprises in developing countries to strengthen capacity of local entrepreneurs and share know-hows to develop standards to support the scale up of technologies across emerging markets.
Resources
