Scotland to lead efforts to bridge international climate tech gap

A Scottish centre is to launch an initiative to tackle the global divide on access to net-zero tech to tackle emissions reduction.

Introduced by the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), the project will help bridge the tech gap between nations in the Global North and Global South.  

Announced at COP28, the Technology Without Borders initiative will build a “climate-resilient world”, NZTC chief technology officer Luca Corradi said. 

“Moving the next generation of technologies that can address climate change from low technology readiness level to commercialisation needs to be prioritised globally,” he said.  

“The Technology Without Borders initiative will promote economic development opportunities during the energy transition, ensuring that nations can address poverty, energy access, and climate change simultaneously." 

By sharing knowledge and building capacity of local technical expertise across both regions, the initiative will also help developing countries stick to their commitment under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change “to promote, facilitate, and finance technology transfer to developing countries", he continued.  

Leading on from new and existing funds, the programme plans to address regional challenges helping to form local technology value chains, tackling “the injustice at the heart of climate change”, Scotland’s net zero secretary Màiri McAllan said.  

With help from partners in the Global South, the centre will target five projects in 2024 to transfer and deploy the tech. 

However, with plans to scale up in consecutive years, the NTCZ has called for more international partners to join the programme.   

Launched in 2017 with seed funding from the UK Government and the Scottish Government, the NTZC was established to bring affordable ways to accelerate the transition to net zero, which Scotland aims to reach by 2045.