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

In advance of the second Replenishment period the Board updated its Strategic Plan for 2024-2027 at B.36, setting out the major programming directions and operational and institutional priorities for GCF-2. GCF’s initial Strategic Plan was adopted in 2016 for the Initial Resource Mobilization period (2015-2019) and 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 strategy

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.

Accreditation framework

12 policies

Administrative policies

13 policies

Business model and allocation framework

1 policy

Complementarity and coherence

1 policy

Country ownership

5 policies

Financial instruments

2 policies

Integrity policies

6 policies

Investment framework

6 policies

Observers

2 policies

Operations of the Board

6 policies

Project approval process

5 policies

Resource mobilisation

3 policies

Results, monitoring and evaluation

7 policies

Risk management framework

10 policies

Sustainability policies

6 policies

Terms of reference

15 policies

Search policies

Title	Theme	Date
Initial investment framework: activity-specific sub-criteria and indicative assessment factors Adopted by decision B.09/05 (b). Sets out definitions of the Fund's investment criteria, activity-specific sub-criteria, and indicative assessment factors AEs should use to inform the development of funding proposals.	Investment framework	26 Mar 2015
Policy on ethics and conflicts of interest for the Board of the Green Climate Fund Adopted by decision B.09/03 (a). Sets out the ethics and conflicts of interest policies for the Board.	Administrative policies	26 Mar 2015
Legal and formal arrangements with Accredited Entities Adopted by decision B.09/08 (a). Sets out how the Fund shall enter into agreements or other arrangements with entities upon their accreditation.	Accreditation framework	26 Mar 2015
Financial terms and conditions of grants and concessional loans Adopted by decision B.09/04. Adopts the financital terms and conditions of grants and concessional loans and specifies the conditions for deployment of funding instruments.	Financial instruments	26 Mar 2015
Terms of reference of the Appointment Committee Adopted by decision B.09/14. Adopts the terms of reference of the Appointment Committee.	Terms of reference	26 Mar 2015
Initial no-objection procedure Adopted by decision B.08/10 (b). Establishes the national no-objection procedure to be conducted in the context of the consideration of Funding Proposals.	Country ownership	17 Oct 2014
Initial logic model for REDD+ results based payments Adopted by decision B.08/08 (a) annex X. This document illustrates the initial logic model for REDD+ results-based payments. This logic model presents results specific to REDD+ RBPs at the levels of programme outputs and activities and shows how they relate to the existing paradigm shift objective, impacts (Fund level), and Programme outcomes that are defined in the Fund’s mitigation logic model.		17 Oct 2014
Policies for contribution to the Green Climate Fund for the Initial Resource Mobilization Adopted by decision B.08/13; applicable to IRM. Defines the resource mobilization approach for the initial resource replenishment including sources of funds, types of contributions, financial terms and conditions, commitment authority, and risk mitigation measures.	Resource mobilisation	17 Oct 2014
Guidelines for the operationalization of the fit-for-purpose accreditation approach Adopted by decision B.08/02. Sets out how the Fund's fiduciary standards and ESS will be assessed through a fit-for-purpose accreditation process.	Accreditation framework	17 Oct 2014
Initial general guidelines for country programmes Adopted by decision B.08/11. Sets out initial general guidelines for country programmes.	Country ownership	17 Oct 2014

Policies & strategies