Technology: An Indispensable Link for Turning Climate Ambition into Action

At COP29 in Baku, a number of landmark outcomes on climate finance, carbon markets, and Loss & Damage were achieved - but one crucial development was overlooked. 

The most publicised outcomes of COP29 were the establishment of the Baku Finance Goal (including the new finance goal of $300 billion a year, tripling the previous goal, and a new global target to scale up $1.3 trillion of climate finance to developing countries by 2035), carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement being set up after a decade of deadlock, the Fund for responding to loss and damage being operationalised, and the Baku Adaptation Roadmap and Baku High-Level Dialogue on Adaptation being introduced to reinforce adaptation efforts. 

What escaped the headlines, however, was the decision to launch a process for elaborating the Technology Implementation Program (TIP). The TIP aims to support developing countries implement their identified climate technology priorities and address related challenges. If well designed and implemented the TIP could shift the ability of countries to translate their climate ambition into climate action.

Technological innovation and the UNFCCC

Technology, a core means of implementation under the UNFCCC, has long been overshadowed by finance. This is understandable given the latter’s overarching importance for enabling climate action but technology receives only a fraction of the attention and funding, despite also being a cross-cutting and enabling factor. If we are serious about closing the gap between ambition and real-world action, technology must be elevated from a marginal topic to a more central pillar of global climate strategy. The global community can mobilise billions in finance, but must invest that money strategically in the systems that translate capital into impact and can accelerate a paradigm in the fight against climate change. This requires funding technology initiatives more robustly and granting them a more institutional role within the UNFCCC.

Despite being a component of the global climate regime from the outset and having a recognised role in achieving the Paris Agreement goals, technology implementation remains under-resourced within the UNFCCC. The UNFCCC Technology Mechanism continues to provide technical assistance with climate technology but many developing countries still face barriers in accessing and deploying the technologies they need for low-carbon, climate-resilient development. From early-warning and irrigation systems to grid modernisation and clean cooking solutions, the technological needs of developing countries are vast and context-specific. Considering the growing impacts of climate change, greater speed and effectiveness of technology deployment for climate action is in order. Without stronger support for technology development and transfer, the global energy transition risks stalling. 

The Technology Implementation Program

Strengthened institutional set-up, where the role of technology is amplified rather than sidelined, could unleash the transformation power of technology to respond to climate change. This is where the TIP could make a difference. Established through the outcomes of the First Global Stocktake at COP28 and with a further decision taken at COP29 last year, the TIP is now pending operationalisation. If designed ambitiously and backed with funding, it could address a long-standing gap: moving from identifying the technological needs and priorities of developing countries to fast-tracking the delivery of technology solutions on the ground.

One of the keys to the TIP’s success will be how it interacts with other pillars of the UNFCCC process, especially finance. Technology, finance, and capacity-building are all interlinked, and cross-cutting approaches are in greater need. While countries recognise the role of technology in fueling climate action, a number of thorny issues and divergent approaches persist, including on the interplay of technology and finance. At COP30, parties should engage constructively with a view to ironing out their differences and defining an effective scope and governance for the TIP, charting a path for its implementation. Belém COP being not as finance-heavy as Baku COP could create more room for spotlighting technology. 

Public and private finance collaboration

Bringing the private sector on board in a structured way is crucial if the TIP and technology implementation under the UNFCCC in general is to succeed. As the main engine of innovation, private companies are not just stakeholders but solution providers. They can accelerate the diffusion of climate technologies, offer scalable business models, and fill capacity gaps. Stronger public-private partnerships are essential for predictable financing of technology access and deployment. In order to engage effectively, the private sector needs clear policy signals, risk-mitigation instruments, and a more coherent framework for collaboration.  

At a time of profound change driven by digitisation and the AI boom (both tools that could grow climate-positive action and which were promoted within COP29 Presidency’s Green Digital Action initiative) technology can no longer be treated as a side agenda under the UNFCCC. Parties should strive to ensure it becomes an integral element of the global response to climate change. This may not be achieved in a single COP, but global climate action – both mitigation and adaptation – hinges on the steady scaling up of technologies, and this relationship will only keep intensifying. 

For the UNFCCC to remain relevant and deliver in the decisive years ahead, technology must assume a more pronounced, better-funded, and better-integrated role. The basis is there, so are the tools. What is needed is more convergence and a coherent approach for technology implementation, driven by political will and backed by finance.

As COP30 approaches, with the task of translating the COP29 outcomes into action, technology must not escape negotiators’ attention. Ultimately, one of COP 29’s key reminders was that multilateralism - despite deep divisions and geopolitical tensions - remains indispensable to achieving results in such intricate diplomatic undertakings as climate talks. Cooperative, multilateral action on technology is now exigent.