Dialogue prioritises increased climate investment to address fragility and conflict

The Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) Sub-Regional Dialogue with Fragile and Conflict-Affected States in the Middle East has heard how well-designed climate interventions can promote stability and support sustainable recovery in such challenging contexts.

Government representatives from Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen highlighted the need for increased accessibility to climate finance as the key to delivering more impact on the ground in the face of escalating climate risks.

GCF is fast becoming the leading source of climate finance for fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS). In 2025, GCF committed almost half a billion dollars (USD 494 million) in FCAS. The Sub-Regional Dialogue is focused on increasing such investment in the Middle East.

The Sub-Regional Dialogue is being hosted by the Government of Oman in Muscat. Dr Abdullah Bin Ali Al Amri, President of the Environment Authority of Oman, in his opening remarks, said: “Oman is committed to strengthening climate governance and working with the Green Climate Fund to advance sustainable and resilient development.”

Dr Amri added that environmental sustainability is a key pillar of Oman’s National Vision 2040 and is “one of the most important strategic objectives of our country.” He concluded that the Sub-Regional Dialogue was an opportunity “to address accessibility to climate finance, which is the most critical challenge facing all of us.”

Henry Gonzalez, GCF’s Chief Investment Officer, said the Dialogue coincided with the 10th anniversaries of the Paris Agreement and GCF being an operational entity.

“We’ve achieved a lot, yet we still have a lot to do and a lot to deliver. We can only do this through our partnerships, which are the ecosystem that makes GCF’s work possible. This Dialogue reaffirms climate resilience is not only possible but achievable through collective action in fragile and conflict-affected states,” he said.

Thomas Eriksson, Director of GCF's Department of the Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East Region, said: “This dialogue matters because climate change and fragility reinforce each other. Inclusive governance, resilient livelihoods, green jobs, a climate-proofed, resilient private sector, and decentralised solutions, including renewable energy, can strengthen resilience, restore essential services, and support sustainable recovery. Climate finance can contribute directly to recovery and stability.”

In addition to officials from the five national governments, 20 partners are participating in the three-day Dialogue. The event focuses on in-depth country planning sessions and will explore how GCF Readiness and other support can help build a set of country-led project pipelines.

Since 2015, GCF has committed USD 2.85 billion in 89 projects to FCAS, to build long-term resilience, increasingly targeting the humanitarian-peace-development nexus, whilst seeking to address the challenges of climate-induced security risks and mobility more proactively. This is approximately 15 per cent of the GCF portfolio.