Environmental and social safeguards

In carrying out its mandate of promoting a paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways in the context of sustainable development, GCF will effectively and equitably manage environmental and social risks and impacts, and improve outcomes of all GCF-financed activities.

This is facilitated by a set of management processes and procedures that allow GCF to identify, analyse, avoid, minimise, and mitigate any potential adverse environmental and social impacts of its activities, to maximise environmental and social benefits, and to improve the environmental and social performance of GCF and its activities consistently over time. This system of processes and procedures is an overarching framework for achieving improvements in environmental and social outcomes while addressing any unintended adverse impacts of all the GCF-financed activities. GCF incorporates environmental and social considerations into its decision-making and operations and identifies opportunities to “do good” and improve environmental and social outcomes.

The interim Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) of the GCF are the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability.

The GCF Environmental and Social Policy is an essential element of the Fund’s Environmental and Social Management System. The policy articulates the commitments of GCF to sustainable development, elaborates how GCF integrates environmental and social issues into its processes and activities, and sets the roles and responsibilities, including the requirements to deliver these commitments. The GCF Board adopted the revised policy in 2021, applicable to all projects from B.32 onwards, introducing provisions for addressing sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment (SEAH) in addition to environmental and social considerations in its funded activities.

The policy reflects GCF’s commitment to achieve environmental and social benefits in all of the activities it undertakes and supports and the importance of clearly conveying this objective to stakeholders and communities. It articulates how GCF integrates environmental and social considerations into its decision-making and operations to effectively manage environmental and social risks and impacts and improve outcomes. This policy presents the commitments of GCF and articulates the principles and standards to which GCF will hold itself accountable. Through this policy, GCF will require that all GCF-supported activities will commit to:

• Avoid, and where avoidance is impossible, mitigate adverse impacts to people and the environment;
• Avoid, and where avoidance is impossible, mitigate the risk of SEAH to people impacted by GCF-finance activities; 
• Enhance equitable access to development benefits; and
• Give due consideration to persons in vulnerable positions and situations and marginalise populations, groups, and individuals, including women and girls, local communities, indigenous peoples, and other marginalised groups of people and individuals that are affected or potentially affected by GCF-financed activities and are especially vulnerable to exploitation or other potentially harmful unintended project impacts

• Sustainability guidance note: Screening and categorizing GCF-financed activities
• Guidelines for the environmental and social screening of activities proposed under the Simplified Approval Process
• Sustainability guidance note: Designing and ensuring meaningful stakeholder engagement on GCF-financed projects
• Action Plan for Addressing Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Abuse, and Sexual Harassment (SEAH Action Plan)
• Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEAH) risk assessment guideline

As part of the efforts of developing and applying best practice environmental and social safeguards, the Fund has been making ongoing efforts to develop its own ESS to enable GCF to achieve the commitments set forth in its Environmental and Social Policy as well as other relevant policies such as the Indigenous Peoples Policy, Updated Gender Policy, and Information Disclosure Policy, among others. The ESS will guide the accredited entities (AEs), executing entities (EEs), countries, and other stakeholders in identifying, avoiding, mitigating, and managing environmental and social risks and impacts following the fit-for-purpose approach, with due consideration to adequate and meaningful stakeholder engagement, grievance redress, and information disclosure.