CAN Intervention in the COP20 SBSTA Closing Plenary, 6 December 2014

Thank you Mr. Chair,

My name is Harshita Bisht and I am speaking on behalf of Climate Action Network.

There is an essential piece of the Technology transfer, Development and Diffusion puzzle missing in the negotiations and that is the economic, social and environmental assessment of mitigation and adaptation technologies. Our goal is to maximize the flow of technologies based, on the principle of CBDR, from developed to developing countries. But for this to be productive we need to ensure that transferred technologies will not have unforeseen impacts.

Technologies that carry the risk of a global and potentially devastating impact should not be part of any decision or agreement.  We call on all parties to demand that technology assessment be included within the mandate of the Technology Mechanism.

Regarding the negotiations on the Framework for Various Approaches, we welcome the cautioned approach not to prejudge progress towards a future climate treaty. However, this must not come at the expense of avoiding discussions on the nuts and bolts of an accounting framework, which we need to avoid that climate commitments are undermined. We call on Parties to start work on this important element in the ADP discussions as soon as possible.

Thank you Mr. Chair.