ECO commends the technology talks under SBSTA for progressing in a spirit of cooperation and collaboration. What confuses ECO however, is that some negotiators also appear keen to remove all traces of the very same collaboration and cooperation from the draft text, and to keep the technology framework as narrowly defined as possible. To deliver the monumental changes needed to reduce emissions, adapt to a changing climate, and respond to loss and damage, technology will be essential. It is therefore imperative to get a technology framework that is fit for purpose and equips Parties for meeting these global challenges. This requires a broad, inclusive, and participatory approach, one that facilitates innovation and transfer and ensures technology is targeted towards the critical transformations we need to achieve.
No framework or mechanism can function if it is not properly and sufficiently resourced. Developing countries need financial support to be able to build their capacity, successfully implement climate technologies as well as develop and maintain these technologies themselves. To facilitate a bottom-up, inclusive, and country-driven process it is therefore vital for the developed world to deliver on promised support. This requires dedicated and predictable funding – not just kind words and small injections of cash for technical consultants. ECO found yesterday’s negotiations deeply concerning, as developed countries strongly resisted including language on “new and additional” support for the Framework. ECO urges Parties to recall the consequences of an inadequate mechanism that would undermine the implementation of the Paris goals and come at a substantial cost to the communities whose lives and livelihoods would be directly threatened if the global temperature rises above 1.5°C!
The Technology Framework needs to be inclusive, engaged, transparent and properly funded. Only then will it be fit for purpose to respond to the real world problems faced by those people least responsible for climate change.