3 September 2011: The first meeting of the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) convened in Bonn, Germany, from 1-3 September 2011, to discuss how the TEC will provide overviews of technology needs, assess policy and technical issues related to technology development and transfer, share information on new and innovative technologies, facilitate and catalyze action on technology, and find ways to engage stakeholders to build the momentum on the Technology Mechanism.

The Technology Mechanism was established at the UN Cancun Climate Change Conference in December 2010, which was part of a set of institutions launched in Cancun to protect the vulnerable from climate change, and to deploy the money and technology that developing countries need to plan and build their own sustainable futures. It will consist and operate through the TEC, the policy arm, and the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), the mechanism implementation component. Its overarching goal is to sharpen the focus, step up the pace, and expand the scope of environmentally-sound technology development and transfer to developing countries in a qualitative way.

At the opening of the meeting, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres emphasized that “technology – both for adaptation and for mitigation – cannot but be at the very centre” of the transformation towards a green economy. At the close of the three-day meeting, Figueres hailed progress achieved, underscoring the importance of the collaboration “among all countries with the active engagement of relevant stakeholders, including the research community, academia and, importantly, the private sector” in order to achieve the objectives of the Technology Mechanism.

The TEC elaborated ways for the engagement of a wide range of stakeholders at international, regional and national level including public institutions, the business community, academia and NGOs in conducting its work. The Committee identified options for the engagement of stakeholders, including through participation in the TEC meetings as observers or expert advisers, where applicable. The TEC members unanimously elected Gabriel Blanco (Argentina) as Chair and Antonio Pflueger (Germany) as Vice-Char of the TEC for 2012, giving them the mandate to collaborate closely in chairing the meetings and in executing the work throughout the year to ensure coherence between the meetings. [UNFCCC Press Release, 1 September 2011] [UNFCCC Press Release, 3 September 2011] [UN Press Release]