The Technology Mechanism and the Right Fit for Data

5 September 2018

The beauty of the Technology Mechanism (TM) is that it has dozens of “TEC Briefs” on a large number of topics that can help countries understand which adaptation and mitigation technologies might be best for deployment in their own countries.

These TEC (Technology Executive Committee) Briefs are invariably based on data collected from sources such as Technology Needs Assessments and Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) efforts that date back to as far as two decades and Technical Assistance that is given via the CTCN. In addition, the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) data might also be used to inform transparency and the Global Stocktake.

But here’s the rub. Despite decades of helpful data collection, the new TM transparency tool, the Periodic Assessment of the TM, is being designed in a way that turns more toward qualitative indicators and much less toward the quantitative data that is so helpful, for example, to identifying Transformational Technologies. In fact, the word “DATA” is nowhere to be found in the paper. This is a mistake of monumental importance. Informed by the Technology Framework it is understandable that LDCs and others need to conserve resources in the collection of data. But a serious plan for collecting both qualitative and quantitative information can be devised to minimize cost while retaining content. Retaining the precious data that early implementations can provide is worth the price of helping these countries share the lessons learned.

The Technology negotiators must set priorities for the most useful data and include them among the information that will be considered in evaluating the impacts of the TM. Without it, we are walking in the dark.