Africa Carbon Forum 2018

In the context of the first Africa Climate Week held from 9th to 13th April 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya, climate experts from more than 40 African countries met at the Africa Carbon Forum to discuss collaboration and technology transfer.

The United Nations Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), together with the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), hosted the regional forum. As the implementing arm of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Technology Mechanism, the CTCN is managed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Technology transfer to achieve objectives

In Africa, technologies for answering climate change challenges are strongly interlinked with important development and social challenges impacting livelihoods. These are pollution, access to energy and electricity, water-related diseases, vulnerability to extreme climate events, agricultural production and food supply, amongst others.

Technology transfer however does not take place in a vacuum. The performance of a given technology depends on a wide range of factors, including the objectives and capacity of a country, adequate information and decision-making tools, enabling environments and access to adequate finance for technology deployment and up-scaling.

The objectives set by each of the countries in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UNFCCC thus include plans to increase mitigate, and adapt to climate change in a wide range of sectors. In order to reach their objective, countries have to make an enormous financial and technological effort regarding hardware (e.g. infrastructure), software (e.g. capacity, knowledge) and orgware (e.g. governance, tenure) to develop solutions to the current climate change problems.

Case studies for clean energy and technology

On the forum, nationally-selected technology focal points (National Designated Entities, or NDEs) from various African countries shared experiences and best practices in the region.

Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius and Namibia are preparing for a transformational change towards sustainable cooling appliances. The countries are working on identifying the most suitable green refrigeration and air conditioning technologies and developing supportive policy measures and technology roadmaps. They are utilising their economies of scale to mitigate ozone depletion and greenhouse gas emissions while fostering sustainable industrial development.

Tunisia is transitioning to energy-efficient lighting on a national scale. In order to build the necessary capacity to implement its ambitious National Energy-Efficient Lighting Transition Strategy, it is developing educational materials on the design and management of energy efficient lighting systems, regulations and government policies.

Cote d’Ivoire is strengthening its ability to make informed climate change decisions by building an environmental information system to co-ordinate relevant data from around the country. National stakeholders develop environmental indicators, propose a sustainable data collection strategy and explore technology options for the design and implementation of the platform.

Tanzania is working to protect its forests and the health of its population by deploying low-emission biomass stoves for household and institutional cooking. The Climate Technology Centre is working with the communities of Lindi, Mtwara and Pwani to develop sustainable charcoal and wood fuel value chains, including charcoal and cook stove production for use in both rural and urban areas.

(CTCN/UNIDO/db)

More information:
CTCN Website

CTCN progress report