Green Climate Fund Receives $3b Boost

Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved nearly $3 billion last year in new climate financing.

According to the organisation, its portfolio reached the $10 billion mark in GCF resources, totalling $37 billion in co-financing.

In its Annual Results Report 2021, GCF said it supported 190 projects in 127 developing countries, to reduce emission and inaugurate climate-resilient development pathways.

This year, the fund said it has signed an implementation agreement to scale up climate action across 13 African countries. The programme, implemented by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), empowers African national and local banks to direct funds to help farmers cope with increasingly erratic climate effects while also reducing farming emissions.

GCF Executive Director Yannick Glemarec said the agreement reflected a continuing time contraction between funding agreement and implementation.

“GCF continues to build on the speed that projects are brought to the Board for approval, and in moving those approved projects to disbursement. The need to increase both the speed and amount of climate finance flows to developing countries is increasingly evident. We have a shrinking window of opportunity to avoid catastrophic climate change,” he said.

The GCF Board has approved major changes to its accreditation framework to streamline access to climate finance at its 31st Board meeting, which concluded today. The changes will enhance and accelerate access to finance by developing countries, including through the creation of a new, one-step process to fund climate projects. The Board also allocated $187.7 million of new resources for climate action, increasing its portfolio to $10.2 billion.

The GCF Board meeting, also approved $ 114.4 million in new investment to the Inclusive Green Financing Initiative (IGREENFIN I).