Policies & strategies

Policies and strategies

As part of its mandate, the GCF Board approves specific operational policies and guidelines, including for programming, project cycle, administration, and financial management. The Board also approves strategies, which guide the overall direction of Fund operations. Together, these strategies and policies establish the framework for implementation of the GCF’s Governing Instrument.

Governing Instrument

The Governing Instrument for the Green Climate Fund was approved by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at its seventeenth session on 11 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa.

Strategic plan

The Board has adopted the GCF Strategic Plan, which sets out its long-term vision for the Fund, as well as its objectives, strategic priorities and operational priorities for the current programming period. The initial Strategic Plan was adopted in 2016 for the Initial Resource Mobilization period (2015-2019). The Strategic Plan was then updated in 2020 for the GCF first replenishment period (2020-2023).

Private sector strategy

The Board adopted at B.32 the Private Sector Strategy, which sets out the four pillars through which the GCF aims to catalyze private climate finance in a country-driven manner to meet developing countries’ needs and the objectives of the Updated Strategic Plan.

Guidance on adaptation

The Board welcomed at B.33 the Guidance on adaptation which speaks to the GCF’s vision, strategic approach, and scope for supporting adaptation programming, and how the GCF aims to deliver this through its range of modalities that support adaptation activities.

Accreditation stategy

The Board adopted at B.34 the Accreditation Strategy, which clarifies the GCF operating model and guides the evolution of the GCF network of AEs in order to deliver on the GCF’s mandate, objectives and programming directions.

Policy map

GCF policy frameworks generally include a mix of top-level policies adopted by the Board to govern a specific subject matter, the related Board decisions which adopt the policies and may contain additional policy provisions, and other policy instruments (such as standards or guidelines) which further elaborate how policies should be operationalized. The main GCF policy frameworks, aligned with the Governing Instrument, are shown in the boxes below.

Clicking on the boxes will take you to the policies in each framework. Alternately, you can search across the entire suite of policies through the search function below.