NAIROBI, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) on Friday launched a new center aimed at accelerating the transfer of climate-related technology to developing countries.
The UN Environmental Program (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner told journalists in Nairobi that the Climate Technology Center and Network (CTCN) was one of the key agenda of the first universal UNEP governing council meeting.
"Under UNEP's leadership, the CTCN will use new technologies to improve the lives of millions of people in developing countries who are currently dealing with the impacts of climate change," Steiner said.
The center comes after 2012 UN climate Change Conference in Doha tasked the UNEP governing council meeting in Nairobi to confirm a UNEP-led consortium as hosts of the Climate Technology Center.
"Other partners include the UN Industrial Development organization (UNIDO) as well as 11 other international research and development bodies," he said.
The executive director said the center will help to reduce the risks and barriers that hinder acquisition of mitigation technologies by developing countries.
Steiner, who is also the UN Under Secretary General, said that innovations are one way to replace current technologies with cleaner low carbon alternatives in order to tackle causes of global climate change.
UNEP said that through nationally designated authorities, developing countries will be able to tap the resources of the center.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said that technology holds the key to enable the low income countries to pursue sustainable development and at the same time grow their economies in a low carbon and resilient manner.
"The establishment of the center means that the completion of the technology mechanism and its related network is on track and will soon boost efforts to ensure that the world stays within the internationally agreed limit of a two degrees Celsius temperature rise," Figueres said.
She noted that the center will also become the implementing arm of the Technology Mechanism of the UNFCC.
The UNFCC recently signed an agreement with the East African Development Bank to increase participation in clean development projects.
The agreement establishes a regional collaboration center in Kampala, Uganda, that will support the identification of projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), provide assistance for their design, and offer opportunities to reduce transaction costs.
According to UNFCCC, there are more than 6,000 projects already registered in 83 developing countries.
This is the second regional collaboration center established by the UNFCCC and a regional development bank in Africa with the aim to bring the benefits of the CDM to currently under-represented regions.
The first center, which was established a few months ago in Lome, Togo, in collaboration with the Banque Ouest Africaine de Development (BOAD), provides assistance in the development of CDM projects in Francophone Africa.
UNIDO Director General Kandeh Yumkella said the center will help developing countries make informed choices about mitigation and adaptation technologies as it will reduce the cost of technology transfer.
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