7 March 2014: The eighth meeting of the Technology Executive Committee (TEC 8) discussed, inter alia, ongoing work of the TEC and elaboration of the 2014-2015 TEC workplan. Delegates also elected Gabriel Blanco (Argentina) as TEC Chair, and Kunihiko Shimada as TEC Vice-Chair for 2014.

During the meeting, which took place from 5-7 March 2014, in Bonn, Germany, TEC members reported on their involvement in relevant meetings, events or activities, including: climate week as part of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2014 in Davos, Switzerland; the Climate Innovation Center in Kenya; the launch of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Green in Geneva, Switzerland; and a workshop on low-carbon energy technologies convened by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, France. They also discussed linkages between the Technology Mechanism and the financial mechanism of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); and collaboration with, inter alia, the Adaptation Committee and the Taskforce on National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage.

Regarding ongoing work of the TEC, participants focused on: technology needs assessments (TNAs); enabling environments for and barriers to technology development and transfer, including agreeing to hold a workshop in the second half of 2014 on ‘Strengthening national systems of innovation in developing countries, covering the entire technology cycle for climate technologies;’ and technologies for adaptation.

The TEC also adopted its 2014-2015 workplan, for which the TEC agreed to: maintain taskforces on TNAs, enablers and barriers, and adaptation; substitute the Taskforce on Linkages with a taskforce on linkages between the Technology Mechanism and the financial mechanism; and establish new taskforces on mitigation and emerging and cross-cutting issues.

For the proposed mitigation task force, TEC members proposed the following topics, inter alia: solar photovoltaic, green cooling and demand-side management; pilot mitigation projects with regional balance; energy efficiency; software technologies; collaborative research and development focusing on cost reduction; mitigation technology as a means to enhance co-benefits and quantifying such co-benefits; and synergy between mitigation and adaptation. TEC members also proposed the following emerging and cross-cutting issues: urbanization and subnational authorities/cities; information communication technology (ICT) in the development and transfer of technology; and technology assessment and integration.

The TEC, together with the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), is mandated to facilitate the effective implementation of the Technology Mechanism, under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC. The TEC was established at COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico. [TEC Website] [TEC 8 Agenda] [IISDRS Coverage of the TEC Workshop on Technologies for Adaptation] [WIPO Green Website] [IISD RS Sources]