Project approval process
This section sets out how climate projects move from concept to implementation—and how funding decisions are made along the way.
For regular project funding, proposals are submitted by Accredited Entities and are reviewed through a structured appraisal by the GCF Secretariat and independent technical experts, which assesses alignment with the Fund’s investment criteria, standards, and country priorities. Proposals that meet these requirements are then considered by the GCF Board for approval. Once approved, GCF works with partners to finalise legal arrangements, disburse funding, and monitor results throughout implementation.
For smaller-scale or lower-risk projects, a simplified approval process is available—visit Simplified Approval Process to learn more.
If you are not an Accredited Entity but wish to apply for GCF funding, explore Project-Specific Assessment Approach (PSAA) for more information.
Making climate finance more efficient and effective
As part of GCF’s commitment to improving access to resources, we launched the ‘Efficient GCF’ initiative to streamline processes and improve efficiency.
After listening to partners’ feedback, we recognise there are areas for improvement: the review process is too long, there is a lack of clarity around partner requirements, and the process has not been effective at filtering out proposals with a low probability of climate impact.
We re-examined our internal project screening and review processes, and we are transforming how countries do business with us by cutting delivery times, being more responsive, and ensuring that projects moving through the pipeline are closely aligned with country climate objectives and have strong country ownership.
We are committing to completing our reviews of Concept Notes and Funding Proposals in 9 months or less. This will include the time required to review the Concept Note and appraise the Funding Proposal, so they are ready for Board consideration. It does not include the time taken by project partners to develop the full proposal between those two stages.
Note: We removed some outdated guidance materials from the website as we move to simplify and streamline our processes. The sectoral guides, the GCF Programming Manual, the Appraisal Guidance and some of its annexes, as well as the Concept Note user guide and checklist, have been removed from circulation. Updated guidance on Concept Notes and Funding Proposals is currently under development and will be provided when complete.
Concept Note screening
Concept Notes are short summaries of a climate project proposal. They are an optional step but provide a way for a project proposer to receive early feedback from GCF, indicating whether the proposal merits development into a full Funding Proposal that could be considered by the GCF Board. The Secretariat screening is based on the GCF investment framework, including the investment criteria.
As part of our nine-month commitment, we have introduced a new screening process for all Concept Notes, including public and private sector proposals, as well as those made under our Project Specific Assessment Approach (PSAA). These procedures will allow us to rapidly review proposals and provide clear feedback with one of three responses:
The Secretariat assessment is that the Concept Note:
- is aligned with GCF’s investment criteria and merits development into a full Funding Proposal;
- is not fully aligned with our investment criteria and merits further development and resubmission; or
- is not aligned with our investment criteria and does not merit further development.
Providing this clear feedback at an early stage will allow countries and project proponents to focus their efforts on proposals most likely to secure GCF funding, increasing clarity and reducing wasted effort.
To further aid this process, we are launching a new digital template for Concept Notes, which will enable faster screening and appraisal of concept notes (CNs) by streamlining the requested documentation to align with GCF’s efficient CN screening process.
GCF Accredited Entities can access the new digitised Concept Note template via the GCF Partner Portal.
Simply click on “+ Submit proposal” and then select “Create a new proposal using the new digital template for GCF concept notes”.
PSAA applicants will be provided with access details for the Partner Portal after submission of the PSAA questionnaire; the PSAA page provides further details.