UNFCCC: UN's New Climate Technology Centre Gets Its First Customers – Six Nations Submit Requests for Support

Developing countries are now beginning to make active use of the UN’s new global network for climate technology solutions, the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN). This constitutes a promising signal that momentum for climate action is building ahead of a new, universal climate agreement in 2015. So far this year, six countries have submitted eight requests for technology assistance to the CTCN, which is headquartered in Copenhagen. These include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Chile, Colombia, Honduras and Pakistan. The requests for support relate to a broad range of climate action, from renewable energy policies to public transportation, and from biodiversity monitoring to saving mangrove forests for coastal protection.

Welcoming the development, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said: Innovation is the engine of development, and replacing current technologies with cleaner, low-carbon alternatives is a vital part of tackling the causes and effects of climate change. The Climate Technology Centre and Network works to accelerate the use of new technologies in improving the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in developing countries who are dealing with the impacts of climate change on a daily basis.” According to Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the growing use of the CTCN is encouraging and now needs the necessary finance. “As countries work towards a universal climate agreement in Paris in 2015, the CTCN provides yet another foundation upon which optimism and action is being built. For it to fully flourish and provide maximum support to developing country ambitions, the requests for support now need to be matched with the finance required, most notably through swift and sufficient capitalization of the Green Climate Fund,” she said.

Last week, the board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) completed the essential policy requirements to make the fund operational. The GCF was established as a prime global channel to deliver public funds and to leverage private sector finance for developing country climate action.

Meanwhile, the CTCN has put all central requirements for the transfer of technology in place. Since its launch in late 2013, over 80 countries have established national CTCN focal points (known as National Designated Entities) who work with country stakeholders to develop and relay requests to the Climate Technology Centre’s network of regional and sectoral experts from academia, the private sector, and public and research institutions.

A side event on the progress to date of the Technology Mechanism and the CTCN will be held on the margins of the upcoming Bonn Climate Change Conference on 7 June, 18.30-20.00. This side event is organized collaboratively by the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and the CTCN. It will opened by UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, and will include presentations by the Director of the CTCN, Mr. Jukka Uosukainen, and the Chairs of the TEC and the CTCN. More information.

About the UNFCCC

With 196 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes the second commitment period under the Protocol. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

About the CTCN

The Climate Technology Centre and Network promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. The CTCN quickly responds with potential solutions as well as tailored capacity building in order to transfer valuable knowledge and practical advice from one country to another in order to accelerate the pace of climate technology implementation. The CTCN is the operational arm of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism and is hosted by UNEP in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and 11 independent, regional organizations with expertise in climate technologies.

Read the release on the UNFCCC website

Photo: uneprisoe.org

Source: UNFCCC press release from 02.06.2014Developing countries are now beginning to make active use of the UN’s new global network for climate technology solutions, the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN). This constitutes a promising signal that momentum for climate action is building ahead of a new, universal climate agreement in 2015. So far this year, six countries have submitted eight requests for technology assistance to the CTCN, which is headquartered in Copenhagen. These include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Chile, Colombia, Honduras and Pakistan. The requests for support relate to a broad range of climate action, from renewable energy policies to public transportation, and from biodiversity monitoring to saving mangrove forests for coastal protection.

Welcoming the development, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said: Innovation is the engine of development, and replacing current technologies with cleaner, low-carbon alternatives is a vital part of tackling the causes and effects of climate change. The Climate Technology Centre and Network works to accelerate the use of new technologies in improving the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in developing countries who are dealing with the impacts of climate change on a daily basis.” According to Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the growing use of the CTCN is encouraging and now needs the necessary finance. “As countries work towards a universal climate agreement in Paris in 2015, the CTCN provides yet another foundation upon which optimism and action is being built. For it to fully flourish and provide maximum support to developing country ambitions, the requests for support now need to be matched with the finance required, most notably through swift and sufficient capitalization of the Green Climate Fund,” she said.

Last week, the board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) completed the essential policy requirements to make the fund operational. The GCF was established as a prime global channel to deliver public funds and to leverage private sector finance for developing country climate action.

Meanwhile, the CTCN has put all central requirements for the transfer of technology in place. Since its launch in late 2013, over 80 countries have established national CTCN focal points (known as National Designated Entities) who work with country stakeholders to develop and relay requests to the Climate Technology Centre’s network of regional and sectoral experts from academia, the private sector, and public and research institutions.

A side event on the progress to date of the Technology Mechanism and the CTCN will be held on the margins of the upcoming Bonn Climate Change Conference on 7 June, 18.30-20.00. This side event is organized collaboratively by the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and the CTCN. It will opened by UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, and will include presentations by the Director of the CTCN, Mr. Jukka Uosukainen, and the Chairs of the TEC and the CTCN. More information.

About the UNFCCC

With 196 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes the second commitment period under the Protocol. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

About the CTCN

The Climate Technology Centre and Network promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. The CTCN quickly responds with potential solutions as well as tailored capacity building in order to transfer valuable knowledge and practical advice from one country to another in order to accelerate the pace of climate technology implementation. The CTCN is the operational arm of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism and is hosted by UNEP in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and 11 independent, regional organizations with expertise in climate technologies.

Read the release on the UNFCCC website

Photo: uneprisoe.org

Source: UNFCCC press release from 02.06.2014