Countries to fund UN Climate Technology Center and Network

By Gulsen Cagatay and Nuran Erkul Kaya

GLASGOW, Scotland (AA) - Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Spain, and the US announced funding commitments on Wednesday to support the work of the UN Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), the implementation arm of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Technology Mechanism.

The meeting, hosted by the UK COP Presidency and the Chilean and Danish governments at the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26) talks in Glasgow, Scotland, focused on supporting developing countries to access technologies for both low-carbon and climate-resilient development.

The Member States met to discuss the expansion of international technology collaboration to implement Article 10 of the Paris Agreement, which defines the role of technology in addressing climate change.

Government representatives discussed the need to prepare the necessary policy and regulatory foundations to support widespread technology innovation and deployment in developing countries, including the key priority of building the capacity of skilled workforces to install and maintain green technologies.

Speaking at the meeting, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, said that better technologies in developing countries are crucial to fulfilling climate change commitments.

Elina Bardram, the head of the International Policies Unit, Directorate-General for Climate for the European Commission, stressed the importance at COP26 of acting and engaging in a new impetus to address the fight against climate change, solutions on technology development and transfer.

"In this context, we are keen to further support, as donors, the CTCN and the development of its activities on the ground and particularly in most vulnerable regions. We also encourage further donors to contribute, including MDBs [multilateral development banks] and the private sector," she added.

Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Jonathan Pershing also reiterated that by helping to deploy technology in developing countries, the CTCN would play a critical role in supporting the collective ability to achieve the Paris Agreement's goals.

- Article 10 of Paris Agreement

Article 10 defines the role of technology in addressing climate change and declares: "Parties share a long-term vision on the importance of fully realizing technology development and transfer in order to improve resilience to climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions".