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Funding expansion targets green hydrogen, cement decarbonisation and SF6 phase-out across three countries, and marks the first time any donor has invested in post-technical assistance scale-up and matchmaking at the CTCN.
The Climate Technology Centre and Network (UN CTCN) today announced that the European Union (EU) - its largest donor - has provided an additional EUR 211,000 in top-up funding to the EU-funded Innovative Climate Solutions (ICS) Programme. The contribution will support scale-up efforts and pilot installations in three high-impact areas: SF6-free electrical infrastructure in Kenya, cement sector decarbonisation in Senegal and green hydrogen in the Maldives.
This funding represents a significant milestone: it is the first time that any donor has provided dedicated financing for post-technical assistance scale-up and matchmaking activities at the CTCN, a new function emerging from COP30 agreed in Belem, Brazil. In doing so, the European Union is not only deepening its commitment to climate technology deployment in developing countries but actively helping to pioneer a new model for how international climate support can translate ambition into durable, scalable impact on the ground.
“The European Commission is pursuing innovative funding models that help bring climate technology solutions to market and demonstrate their potential for scale-up and replication elsewhere. From the Maldives to Kenya to Senegal, EU investments are accelerating the transition from climate ambition to investments by helping to establish new approaches that are truly maximising real-world impacts with potential for positive knock-on effects across the region. I am particularly happy to see the emphasis on the creation of SF6-free electrical infrastructure, as the phaseout of sulphur hexafluoride is an important cornerstone of the EU’s industrial decarbonisation agenda,” said Kurt Vandenberghe, Director General of the Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission.
"We are deeply grateful for the European Union’s continued trust and vision," said Ariesta Ningrum, Director of the CTCN Secretariat. "This top-up is more than additional funding. It signals a shared belief that the gap between a completed technical assistance project and real-world implementation must be actively bridged. The EU is helping us do exactly that, and we hope this model will inspire other donors to follow."
Funding aligned with EU climate priorities
The three areas selected for top-up funding reflect careful alignment with both established partnerships and the European Union’s own regulatory and policy priorities under the European Green Deal and Clean Industrial Deal.
On SF6, the EU has made the phase-out of sulphur hexafluoride - one of the most potent greenhouse gases known, with a global warming potential of 24,300 times that of CO2 - a cornerstone of its industrial decarbonisation agenda. The EU's updated F-Gas Regulation, which entered into force in 2024, sets a clear trajectory for phasing SF6 out of electrical switchgear across Europe, and the EU has signalled its ambition to support similar transitions globally. The CTCN's SF6 work in Kenya directly advances this agenda: the EU ICS top-up will fund the installation of an SF6-free medium-voltage pilot in Kenya, building local technical capacity and creating a replicable demonstration model for other developing nations. This pilot establishes Kenya as a centre of expertise on phasing downSF6 emissions in Africa and is expected to generate the evidence and momentum needed to attract further donor investment, including from EU Member States such as Germany.
As part of the ICS programme, the EU has funded cement decarbonization activities in Senegal and Zimbabwe. This work is part of the CTCN's Climate Innovation in Cement and Concrete (CICC) programme, which joined the global Breakthrough Agenda on Cement and Concrete in November 2025. In Senegal, the EU ICS top-up will fund scale-up activities in climate finance expertise for the development of investment concepts related to circular economy and waste value-chain opportunities, stakeholder engagement activities, and targeted matchmaking efforts to connect potential projects with investors and implementation partners.
The EU hydrogen strategy is a central pillar of Europe’s energy transition agenda, with REPowerEU setting ambitious targets for both domestic production and imports of renewable hydrogen. The CTCN's green hydrogen work has already achieved tangible results: a recent technical assistance project in Thailand led directly to green hydrogen being incorporated into Thailand's national energy policy. The EU-funded Maldives project builds on a global green hydrogen capacity-building programme delivered by the CTCN in 2023 and is attracting strong interest from South Korea and engagement with the Green Hydrogen Organization. The EU ICS top-up will fund scale-up activities to build on the national roadmap already developed and connect it to finance and implementation partners.
A new chapter: from technical assistance to scale-up
The Belém Technology Implementation Programme, agreed to at COP30 in November 2025, called on the CTCN to strengthen its focus on implementation, moving beyond advice and analysis toward the actual deployment and scaling of climate technologies. Post-technical assistance scale-up and matchmaking are central to this mandate yet have historically been under-resourced across the international climate architecture.
The EU's top-up funding directly responds to this gap. By investing in activities that connect completed technical assistance projects to finance, partners and on-the-ground implementation, the European Union is helping the CTCN test and develop a function that could become a model going forward.
About the CTCN
The Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) is the implementation arm of the Technology Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for low-carbon and climate-resilient development at the request of developing countries, drawing on a global Network of over 1000 member organisations across 165 countries. Since its foundation, the CTCN has deployed more than 300 technical assistance projects in 110 countries.
About the Innovative Climate Solutions Programme:
The ICS Programme is the CTCN's flagship initiative for supporting transformative climate technology deployment in developing countries, financed by the European Union.
More information on the ICS is available at ICS - Innovative Climate Solutions | Climate Technology Centre & Network | Thu, 09/19/2024