“Technology is vital for developing countries to both curb their emissions and to build more climate-resilient societies,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC. “This meeting is an important next step towards ensuring that the Mechanism becomes fully operational this year and begins delivering concrete results,” she said.

The second meeting of the Technology Executive Committee (TEC), the policy arm of the UNFCCC’s Technology Mechanism, is set to kick off in Bonn, Germany, this week.

Designed to help countries step up the impact, pace and quality of technology actions that are needed to address climate change, the Technology Mechanism aims to ensure that these benefits reach developing countries.

The second meeting of the Technology (15-17 February) will develop its workplan for 2012 and 2013. Specifically, the meeting will focus on how to build on existing technology-related opportunities in the following areas:

Analysis and synthesis
Policy recommendations
Facilitation and catalysing
Linkages with other relevant institutional arrangements under the UNFCCC
Engagement of stakeholders including the private sector, and information and knowledge sharing.

Countries bid to host Climate Technology Centre

The Technology Mechanism has a policy arm, which is the Technology Executive Committee, and an implementing arm, which is the Climate Technology Centre and Network.

A call for proposals to host the Climate Technology Centre was issued in January, and proposals need to be submitted to the UNFCCC secretariat by 16 March 2012.

At its meeting in Bonn the Technology Executive Committee will nominate 3 committee members from the developing world and 3 from industrialised countries to evaluate and make recommendations on possible hosts of the Climate Technology Centre.

The next UN Climate Change Conference in Qatar in November 2012 will give the final approval of the host of the Climate Technology Centre.

The Technology Executive Committee meeting will be webcast live and on demand.

Relevant documentation can be found at http://unfccc.int/ttclear/jsp/TECMeeting.jsp

For more information on the issue of development and transfer of technologies under the UNFCCC see here

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