The TNA process, including the Technology Action Plans (TAPs), are key elements of countries’ climate change mitigation and adaptation planning, and help countries to identify realistic measures to implement the commitments of their Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans. The TNA is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre in close collaboration with the UNFCCC Secretariat.
On the 12th of March, 2025, the TNA launched its fifth phase of work (TNA V) at a global workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. The workshop is an important moment for both the 17 new countries entering the TNA process, as well as 17 countries involved in TNA IV. The workshop will specifically focus on addressing the subsequent implementation of TNAs through attracting sufficient investment from the private sector, donors and other institutions.
The TNA also plays an important role in contributing to the Global Stocktake, which assess collective progress towards the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals. It does so by providing credible and relevant assessments of different aspects of technology transfer, and informing country action on technology transfer and enabling environments. TNAs offer information on the implementation potential, ability and scale of technologies – and not least the required enabling frameworks for technology transfer and uptake.
Currently, climate mitigation and adaptation technologies are seeing far less than necessary uptake due to a lack of finance in most developing economies. Climate finance flows, still fall far short of the estimated averages of US$3 – 5 trillion per year needed to stay in line with the Paris Agreement 2°C and 1.5 °C targets respectively, as well as the estimated adaptation costs of US$1.8 trillion USD per year.
The main factors inhibiting adequate finance are the higher cost of capital in developing economies, under-developed regulatory and institutional arrangements, and to a lesser degree, limited human and technical resources.
Climate technologies are often capital intensive and require mobilising large upfront financing for investment life cycles that often span several decades. The cost of capital in developing countries is significantly higher than in industrialized countries, even though most technologies are mature and often focus on impactful energy efficiency measures for buildings. As of 2024, the TNA had helped inform more than US$1.8 billion dollars invested in climate technology in projects in developing economies.
The TNA global workshop focused directly on the finance challenge by bringing together 34 country representatives and representatives from the private sector, financial institutions, multilateral development banks in focused dialogues on how to enhance collaboration and investments in technology and implementation in developing countries.
UNEP Director of the Climate Change Division, Martin Krause opened the workshop, stating “The TNAs are an important piece of countries climate commitment puzzles. They show what is actually needed to make the transition to a climate resilient world. We have several successful examples of projects emerging from the TNA, such as the Bus Rapid Transit system in Karachi Pakistan, and investments in rainwater technologies which increase water storage capacity in Mozambique.”
“We know now what the needed technologies are. It is now critical to make the connection from known, proven and accessible technologies to implementation via tailored funding mechanisms,” said Krause.
Jens-Peter Kamanga Dyrbak, Chief Governance and Climate advisor for Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke about funding protocols and requirements for de-risking investments in fragile country contexts. Climate mitigation and adaptation is now the highest priority among Denmark’s country-programmed development assistance. In contexts such as Somalia, Dyrbak emphasized the necessity for thorough conflict-sensitivity assessments, the need for countries to establish reliable regulatory mechanisms and policies, and the utility of low-tech investments.
Urjit Patel, former Vice President of The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India spoke on the challenge of climate finance pledges placing more burden on developing countries when delivered as debt rather than genuine aid, particularly in a global macro-economic environment where most governments are facing major debt burden limitations. Mr Patel highlighted how both private and public financing could be allocated more effectively in mitigation and adaptation respectively, and how they could be cyclically linked to create low-risk infrastructure investments for both private investors and governments.
“There are financial instruments which offer the potential to adapt to funding climate investments. The Infrastructure Investment Trust (INVIT) is one example.
There are now well understood low carbon assets in parts of the world that have recognizable and dedicated revenue streams that mirror conventional energy and with risks that are well understood. At the least there can be experimentation with pilot projects as stepping stones towards expanding deployment, with support and risk participation from MDBs by way of seed funding and knowledge sharing, and cross fertilization for example, by hosting a common dedicated portal on deals for potential risk, participation and dissemination of learnings,” said Mr Patel.
Panelists also highlighted the fact that MDBs have shared interests in pursuing the environmental and climate co-benefits deriving from climate mitigation and adaptation. Margaret Bariyani Musana, Regional manager for Africa at the NDC Partnership, presented on how TNA’s and TAP’s connect to NDC investment actions, and the role of the NDC Partnership in supporting countries to find donors for their mitigation and adaptation priorities. Musana said that 56% of country requests to the partnership are looking at implementation.
More than 70% of countries with a TNA have referred to it in their NDC. The Maldives for example emphasizes the need for implementing the Technology Action Plans from the TNA process, as one of the means to reach its NDC targets. The Maldives BTR also refers to the TNA’s detailed sectoral assessments for each major polluting sector, as well as important policy and regulatory interventions to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption.
“We support countries to prioritize the projects across sectors so that they can align their technology needs with their NDC targets, but also, we share these to our donor members to align their support. The partnership allows to diversify sources of funding, while we have GCF GF, but we can have a bigger platform for other funders as well. So we can play a role in saturating these requests to and present bankable projects which are attractive to donors,” said Musana.
The key takeaways from the TNA workshop include that a combination of market stimulation and human capacity development are necessary to advance technology implementation; and that countries can benefit from support in making early-stage decisions on financing and matching country plans technology priorities with funding sources, to establishing a bridge between the policy and finance.