The Green Climate Fund has approved just over $960 million in financing for 18 new climate projects around the world, bringing its total portfolio above the $20 billion mark.
The new projects were confirmed at the 44th meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) board, and supports initiatives in areas such as climate adaptation, energy access, agriculture, and resilience, bringing the total number of supported projects and programmes to 354 globally.
At its board meting, and in line with its reform agenda, the GCF also selected a number of global locations to be host cities for regional offices, ensuring the fund will have a physical presence closer to the developing countries it serves.
New regional offices are to be established in Panama City (Panama), Amman (Jordan), Nairobi (Kenya), Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), and Suva (Fiji), while the fund’s headquarters, in the Republic of Korea, will continue to oversee its activities in Asia.
‘Climate finance’
“The decision to establish regional offices brings GCF closer to its partners and will increase our efficiency in the delivery of climate finance on the ground,” commented co-chair Leif Holmberg. “I am pleased that six projects were approved through our streamlined assessment approach, demonstrating that our reforms are delivering faster pathways to climate finance. It is also great to see that seven project agreements were signed immediately after the board meeting, ensuring that these investments reach communities without delay.”
The latest round of funding had a strong focus on Africa, which received around 46% of the allocations, or $441 million in funding. This included Ascent-Green, a $250 million programme to support expanded energy access across 21 countries in eastern and southern Africa.
Partner organisations
In addition to project approvals, ten new partner entities were approved for accreditation, six of which are direct access entities from Barbados, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Republic of Korea and the State of Palestine.
“The $960.3 million in investment agreed at this board will deliver climate finance at scale for developing countries around the world,” added co-chair Amb. Seyni Nafo. “With nearly half of our new investments directed to Africa and first-ever single-country projects in Chad, Jamaica and The Bahamas, we are reaching communities that need climate finance the most.
“I am also delighted to see the accreditation of 10 new partner organisations – six of them direct access entities – including the first national direct access entity for Palestine. This signals GCF’s continued commitment to country-ownership of climate action.” Read more here.
