Green Climate Fund; first replenishment (GCF-1)

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. The purpose of the GCF is to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change. The GCF will contribute to the achievement of the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC. In the context of sustainable development, the GCF will promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The GCF will strive to maximize the impact of its funding for adaptation and mitigation, and seek a balance between the two, while promoting environmental, social, economic and development co-benefits and taking a gender-sensitive approach. The GCF is governed and supervised by a Board that will have full responsibility for funding decisions and will receive the guidance from the Conference of the Parties (COP). The World Bank serves as an trustee for the GCF. First formal replenishment negotiations were finalised in October 2019; the first replenishment will cover the years 2020-23. The Board will develop a Strategic Plan and workplan to guide the work based on the recommendations by the contributors. The total contribution to the GCF-1 is 9.777 billion (US) dollars. This migth still increase as pleding is possible throughout the entire replenihsment period. Finland provides 100 million euros (about 113 USD). In euro terms this represents 25 % increase compared to the Initial Resource Mobilisation period. The fund has approved so far 124 projects (about 5,6 billion USD) aiming to reach 348 beneficiaries and deliver reductions of up to 1.6 billion t CO2 equivalent.