The third round of the Technology Needs Assessment Project (TNA III), has been officially started today, during a kick-off workshop in Bangkok, Thailand.
Implemented by UN Environment and executed by UNEP DTU Partnership, this new round of TNAs assists 23 developing countries in determining their technology priorities regarding mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
TNAs are a significant instrument in developing countries efforts to not only determine which technologies best suit their need for mitigation and adaptation, but also to gain access to much needed capital.
As Jonathan Duwyn, TNA advisor and manager at UN Environment said during the opening, “It is important to remember that the TNA has never been a means in and of itself, but rather a tool for countries to establish favourable conditions and mobilize investments in climate“.
Implementing the Paris Agreement and more
Assessing the need for technology is directly referenced in the Paris Agreement, but the TNAs are also a contribution to the general development of the participating countries, helping them take a step on the way to accessing technology for implementing the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.
TNAs are expected to be one of the instruments to implement Nationally Determined Contributions. This implies a significant scale-up and implementation of policies, measures, and technologies, as well as mobilization of domestic and international financial resources.
From Vladimir Hecl, UNFCCC, also commented on the importance of focusing on technology needs and implementation in climate actions.
“We will not reach Paris Agreement targets without technologies. There are many efforts and activities under the UNFCCC, but technology work is taken very seriously”.
Sharing experiences and lessons learned
At the kick-off workshop, participants will share experiences and discuss what they find as necessary conditions to enhance investments in technology transfer and implementation in developing countries. The ambition of this workshop is to discuss and elaborate on how partnerships for technology transfer and implementation are created today, and what the requirements are to accelerate these efforts for further advancing on the 2030 Agenda along with the implmentation of the Paris Agreement.
Representatives from the two previous rounds of TNAs will also participate and share their experiences, lessons learned and good practices.
From Mongolia, Xacbank, will present how the bank became the first private enity to get accredited by the Green Climate Fund, using the Mongolian TNA for accessing Green Climate Fund direct access funding.
Read more about the results of the Mongolian TNA here and here.
The Climate Finance Readiness, Adaptation Fund, the Green Climate Fund and UNEP DTU Partnerships also participated in the opening.
Ambassador Uffe Wolffhechel from the Embassy of Denmark in Bangkok joined the kick-off workshop and emphasised the local emphasis of the TNA process.
“What we really need to move forward is political commitment and local ownership. The enabling framework conditions are key to attract investments in climate technologies”.
Funding and gender guidance
The third round of the global TNA project is funded by the Global Environment Facility. Besides assessing the technological needs there will be a focus on easing the access to funding and investments.
The TNA approach is built around a bottom-up approach. Local consultants and a need and demand driven method ensures that the national priorities in the assessments will lead to overall development as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation.
For the first time gender guidance is also an aspect when looking at technology, and gender aspects are also discussed during the workshop. Throughout the TNA project, countries will receive guidance in how to ensure that new technology benefits society at large with an emphasis on gender equality.