Technology under Ad Hoc Working Groups

Technology under the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform on Enhanced Action (ADP)

At COP 17, the COP established the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) (decision 1/CP.17) to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties, to be completed no later than 2015 in order for it to be adopted at COP 21 and come into effect and be implemented from 2020.  The COP also launched a workplan on enhancing mitigation ambition to identify and explore options for a range of actions that can close the ambition gap with a view to ensuring the highest possible mitigation efforts by all Parties.

At its first session, in 2012, the ADP initiating work under two workstreams: workstream 1 on matters related to paragraphs 2 to 6 of decision 1/CP.17 (referred to as the 2015 agreement); and workstream 2 on matters related to paragraphs 7 and 8 of the same decision (referred to as pre-2020 ambition).

Workstream 1: the 2015 agreement

Technology development and transfer is one of the key elements to be considered in the development of the 2015 agreement, along with mitigation, adaptation, finance, transparency of action and support, and capacity-building.

At COP 18, the COP decided that the ADP will consider elements for a draft negotiating text of the 2015 agreement no later than at its session to be held in conjunction with COP 20 with a view to making available a negotiating text before May 2015. At COP 19, the COP requested the ADP to accelerate its development of the 2015 agreement and further elaborate, beginning at its first session in 2014, elements for a draft negotiating text, taking into consideration its work, including, inter alia, on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, capacity-building and transparency of action and support.

Workstream 2: pre-2020 ambition

Technology development and transfer is also central to workstream 2 where technology can play a crucial role in enhancing mitigation ambition.

In 2013, various negotiations sessions as well as workshops, roundtables, briefings and consultations were organised in sessions of the ADP to identify and explore options for a range of actions that can close the pre-2020 ambition gap, in accordance with the mandate from COP 18.

At COP 19, the COP decided, inter alia, to accelerate activities under the workplan on enhancing mitigation ambition by, inter alia, intensifying, as from 2014, the technical examination of opportunities for actions with high mitigation potential with a focus on the implementation of policies, practices and technologies that are substantial, scalable and replicable.

Also in Warsaw, the ADP requested the secretariat to organize technical expert meetings (TEMs) at each of the sessions of the ADP in 2014 to share policies, practices and technologies and address the necessary finance, technology and capacity building.  TEMs aim at demonstrating how mitigation opportunities can be seized, how barriers to implementation on the ground can be effectively addressed and how the high mitigation potential can be turned into reality, scaled up and replicated. The first TEMs were launched during the March session in 2014, focussing on opportunities for action on renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Technology under the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA)

At COP 13, the COP decided to launch a comprehensive process to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action, up to and beyond 2012, in order to reach an agreed outcome and adopt a decision at COP 15, by addressing, inter alia, enhanced action on technology development and transfer to support action on mitigation and adaptation (decision 1/CP.13). The complete overview of the AWG-LCA process can be found here.

Establishment and operationalization of the Technology Mechanism

At COP 16, as part of the Cancun Agreements, the COP decided to establish a Technology Mechanism (decision 1/CP.16), consisting of a Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and a Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN). Arrangements to make the Technology Mechanism fully operational were developed at subsequent sessions of the COP. At COP 18, the COP agreed to further elaborate at COP 20 the linkages between the Technology Mechanism and the financial mechanism of the Convention, taking into consideration the recommendations of the TEC and the Board of the Green Climate Fund.