The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved a combined $295 million in grants and concessional loans to support a $6 billion water desalination project in Jordan.
The Fund announced its support for the Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Conveyance Project, which will supply water to nearly half the country’s population, at its 43rd board meeting (B.43), taking place in Songdo, Korea, this week.
The desalination initiative will address severe water scarcity in Jordan, which has one of the lowest levels of water availability on the planet. The news was first reported by the Reuters news agency.
Following the GCF‘s contribution, the project, which is being led by the French infrastructure company Meridiam and the utility firm Suez, will seek to attract further financing from other institutions, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Indonesia project
It follows on from the Fund committing $103.8 million to a project designed to reduce emissions from the forestry and land-use sectors in Indonesia, which it announced last week.
Commenting on the Indonesia project, Hemant Mandal, director of GCF’s department of the Asia and the Pacific region, described it as a “powerful testament to Indonesia’s leadership in global climate action and to the catalytic role of the GCF.”
Korea meeting
At its meeting in Korea, the GCF is considering providing funding for as many as 24 different climate projects around the world, amounting to around $1.4 billion in potential funding.
‘The proposed projects include investments to support adaptation and mitigation action across all regions of GCF’s operations,’ it noted. ‘The board will also consider the accreditation of five new organisations as GCF project implementing partners. All are national organisations established within developing countries.’
Other items on the agenda for the meeting, which runs until 30 October, will include a review of recent evaluations by the GCF’s Independent Evaluation Unit and of its restructuring policy, as well as consideration of the GCF secretariat’s work programme and budget. Read more here and here.
