GREEN CLIMATE FUND THE BASICS
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» what is the green climate fund?
HALF OF THE GCF’S FUNDING IS SUPPOSED TO GO FOR ADAPTATION, AND HALF OF THAT IS TO BE SPENT ON ADAPTATION IN PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE COUNTRIES.
The impacts of climate change are already being felt by many millions of people and communities around the world – but the burden weighs most heavily on the poor and marginalised in developing countries. That’s why 195 countries came together to create the Green Climate Fund (GCF) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The GCF is expected to play a central role in financing efforts to combat climate change (mitigation) and to help developing countries cope with its effects (adaptation). The GCF agreed on eight initial funding proposals in November 2015, following a five year process to establish the Fund. It has been promised US$10.3 billion over its first four years of operation, mostly from developed countries.
» why was the gcf set up? The world is awash with climate funding mechanisms set up by the World Bank and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) and bilateral institutions, but very few of them are accountable to developing countries, let alone to the people who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Half of the GCF’s funding is supposed to go for adaptation, and half of that is to be spent on adaptation in particularly vulnerable countries, including least development countries (LDCs), African states and small island developing states (SIDS). These countries have so far received only a minor share of international public climate funding.
The GCF is supposed to be different. It was set up according to the principles of the UNFCCC, with a constitution (called the “Governing Instrument”) that promises a “country-driven approach” accountable to the institutions and people in the developing countries in which the Fund operates.
The GCF could be one of the most significant public funders of climate projects and programmes globally, but it represents a tiny proportion of the US$100 billion per year that developed countries are meant to supply to help meet developing countries' climate change needs by 2020.
The GCF promotes a gender-sensitive approach to its funding – the first climate fund to do so from the outset of its activities. Decision-making power is evenly split between developed and developing countries. While the UNFCCC has also set up a handful of other funds – notably, the Adaptation Fund – the GCF has promised to deliver billions, not millions, of dollars every year.
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