Four new climate projects will mobilise $3bn for climate action in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board has allocated $501.1m for new climate projects. The four new climate projects approved during its 29th board meeting will mobilise a total of $2,949m for climate action and three of the four new projects target support at the most vulnerable countries.
Co-chair, José De Luna Martínez, from Mexico, stated: “With the addition of $500m in new projects by the board, the Green Climate Fund is now investing nearly $9bn in low-emission, climate-resilient development. GCF is the largest dedicated climate fund and is playing a key role to support climate action in developing countries, particularly Least Developed Countries (LDC), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and African states.”
The four projects approved are:
Building Climate Resilient Safer Islands in the Maldives: $25.1m
Undertaken with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the funding will enhance coastal management to protect these climate-vulnerable islands from the impact of rising sea levels.
Light Rail Transit for the Greater Metropolitan Area: $271.3m
A significant project in Costa Rica with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). CABEI is one of GCF’s ‘direct access entities’ – sub-national, national and regional organisations that are working close to the ground in developing countries.
Transforming Eastern Province through Adaptation: $33.8m
Rwanda is highly exposed to climate impacts through severe weather events like drought, heatwaves, and changes in rainfall patterns threatening the resilience of smallholder farmers. This project is part of a wider investment in Africa to help protect lives and livelihoods with more sustainable management of ecosystems.
Leveraging Energy Access Finance (LEAF) Framework: $170.9m
A private sector project in six African countries undertaken with the African Development Bank (AfDB). Around 570 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to energy and the LEAF framework is helping to support projects that leapfrog carbon-intensive energy models by crowding in private capital investment to deliver decentralized, renewable energy access.
These newly approved projects will increase the GCF’s total portfolio to $8.85bn and the board also approved the Integrated Results Management Framework (IRMF). This framework will enable more consistent measurement and reporting of results from the project level, further boosting the ability of GCF to measure and report the impact of its investments.
Co-Chair Jean-Christophe Donnellier, from France, said: “GCF has a critical role to play in ensuring that finance is provided to developing countries as part of our global climate commitments. The fund continues to improve the efficiency of the implementation of its portfolio and the board now needs to prioritize policy reforms that are needed as GCF continues to grow, as it did today with the adoption of the new Results Management Framework.”
GCF executive director, Yannick Glemarec, added: “Our portfolio is growing, and the delivery of funds on the ground is accelerating. 75% of our projects are now under implementation and the time taken for project proposals to be approved and funded continues to fall. We are determined to hit the objectives set within our strategic plan for the period up to 2023, including achieving a 50/50 balance between adaptation and mitigation investments, and we will step up our efforts to prioritise adaptation projects for our next board meeting.”
