Across the global development community, there is growing recognition that technology transfers to developing countries are a key element of international efforts to combat climate change.
On Friday, more than 190 nations agreed on a formal negotiating text for the widely anticipated 2015 global climate agreement, which underscored technology transfer as a collective goal. That agreement is expected to be finalized at the COP21 global climate negotiations in Paris at the end of the year.
Little noticed, however, is that the U.N. system already has an operational mechanism for technology transfers — the Climate Technology Center and Network. First floated at COP15 back in 2009 and then declared “open for business” four years later at COP19, CTCN is mentioned in the COP21 negotiating text as a key institutional arrangement for technology transfer.