Engaging with GCF

The Green Climate Fund is an international fund created to support low-emission and climate-resilient investments in developing countries. Its purpose is to make a significant and ambitious contribution to combat climate change. By engaging with the Fund, people, enterprises and ecosystems in developing countries will become more resilient to the adverse impacts of climate change, and reduce emissions that exacerbate climate change.

What will the Fund support?
The Fund will finance low-emission (mitigation) and climate-resilient (adaptation) projects and programmes developed by the public and private sector to contribute to the sustainable development goals of countries. In doing so, it will aim to equally balance its allocation between adaptation and mitigation over time, and allocate significant resources to the private sector. It will also aim to allocate at least half of its resources for adaptation for countries that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These countries will include least developed countries (LDCs), Small Island developing States (SIDS) and African States. The Fund is meant to finance projects and programmes in line with its Results Management Framework (RMF), which defines eight strategic impacts to be achieved at the Fund level, four mitigation and four adaptations.
 
Based on further analysis by the Fund, additional opportunities were identified in climate-compatible cities, sustainable agriculture, forestry, resilience and energy generation and access.

How can countries engage with the Fund?
There are three key steps to engage with the Fund:
1. Establish and maintain a national designated authority (NDA) or focal point.
A national designated authority or focal point is the core interface between a country and the Fund. It seeks to ensure that activities supported by the Fund align with strategic national objectives and priorities, and help advance ambitious action on adaptation and mitigation in line with national needs.
2. Identify and seek accreditation of entities to access resources from the Fund.
The Fund will channel its resources through a network of public, private and non-governmental institutions operating at sub-national, national, regional and international levels that meet the Fund standards. These institutions need to be aligned with the Fund’s objectives and meet its fiduciary standards and environmental and social safeguards through a process of accreditation. A key role of NDAs and focal points is to provide letters of nomination to direct access entities.
3. Develop projects and programmes to bring forward for funding through accredited entities.
The Fund will finance projects and programmes in the public and the private sector that contributes towards achieving at least one of the eight strategic impacts of the GCF Fund. Proposals from accredited entities for projects and programmes will be considered against the Fund’s investment framework, and in partnership with NDAs and focal point.
(For further details and support available please see Engaging with GCF)