TNA STEP BY STEP: A guidebook for countries preparing Technology Needs Assessments and Action Plans – Second Edition

The Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) process comprises a set of country-driven, participatory activities aimed at identifying, selecting, and planning for the implementation of climate technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) and/or increase resilience to climate change (adaptation). The TNA process involves three distinct steps of 1) technology identification and prioritisation; 2) barrier analysis and enabling framework, and 3) technology action plan development. The steps build upon each other, where the technology action plans serve as roadmaps that can be integrated into the government planning process, as well as creating a pipeline of programmes and projects targeted at specific sources of multilateral (e.g. Green Climate Fund (GCF)) and private finance.

As a country-driven process, a TNA should not be conducted in isolation but rather integrated with other similar ongoing processes to support national sustainable development and, not least, the implementation of countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In this context, there is a direct linkage in both directions between the TNA and the NDC, with each potentially informing the other.

The purpose of this guidebook is to summarise the various steps in the preparation of a TNA, including associated Technology Action Plans (TAPs), and to be the ‘go-to’ reference document for national TNA Teams, including TNA coordinators and consultants. It also points out the various materials that are available to guide and support the process. The revised guidance is based on the experience of the more than one hundred countries that have already conducted a TNA process and provide country examples to illustrate how the TNA project can be organised and implemented.

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