The UNFCCC Secretariat published three papers that document the climate technology “journey” – the path between the identification of technological needs for countries to increase sustainability and develop climate change resilience, to full implementation of those technologies.

The publications review best practices for responding to countries’ technological requirements, the significant role that innovation plays in speeding up the implementation of technology, and opportunities to leverage new technology approaches to increase coastal resilience to climate change. The Technology Executive Committee (TEC), the policy arm of the UNFCCC’s Technology Mechanism, organized a virtual event to launch the publications.

Part of the TEC’s regular briefing series, the paper titled, ‘Enhancing Implementation of the Results of Technology Needs Assessments,’ explores the starting point of countries’ climate technology journey, including the identification and prioritization of climate technologies best suited to each country’s needs.  The report reviews challenges, best practices, and opportunities for improvement in the Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) process, which countries undertake to determine their climate technology priorities. It also provides case studies that demonstrate countries’ progress in implementing TNA-prioritized technologies.

The publications show the crucial role of technologies in the transition to low-carbon, resilient economies.

The paper titled, ‘Innovative Approaches to Accelerating and Scaling Up Climate Technology Implementation for Mitigation and Adaptation,’ reviews opportunities to scale up the implementation of identified climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies through innovative approaches. The paper presents innovations in the following areas: the country selection process for technology options; the solicitation process by climate technology planners of stakeholder views and practitioner knowledge and preferences; financial innovations for enhancing funding for technology projects and programmes; and opportunities for enhancing private sector engagement and incubators. 

Finally, the paper titled, ‘Technologies for Averting, Minimizing and Addressing Loss and Damage in Coastal Zones,’ provides an overview of knowledge on climate change-related loss and damage in coastal zones. It also reviews the technologies for averting, minimizing, and addressing loss and damage. Co-issued by the TEC and the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM), the policy brief highlights technologies needed for risk assessment, risk retention, and recovery and rehabilitation in coastal zones, and reviews how combinations of technologies can be used to comprehensively assess, manage, and accommodate the impacts of climate change. 

In welcoming the publications, TEC Chair Mareer Husny warned that the challenges posed by COVID-19 “should not be an excuse for us to delay our work to address climate change.” These publications, said Husny, “show the crucial role of technologies in the transition to low-carbon, resilient economies,” as governments prepare green economic recovery packages to address the COVID-19 crisis. [UNFCCC Press Release] [Publication: Enhancing Implementation of the Results of Technology Needs Assessments] [Publication: Innovative Approaches to Accelerating and Scaling Up Climate Technology Implementation for Mitigation and Adaptation] [Publication: Technologies for Averting, Minimizing and Addressing Loss and Damage in Coastal Zones]