GCF at COP29 summary
The Conference of Parties (COP) is an important platform for the Green Climate Fund (GCF), providing an opportunity for the Fund to interact with countries, contributors, stakeholders and partners. And COP29 was no exception. Over the two weeks in Baku, GCF had over 350 engagements, ranging from fora and events to meetings and negotiation tracks.
GCF takes guidance from the COP on its policies, programming priorities and eligibility criteria, as it is an operating entity under the Financial Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
One of COP29’s key outcomes was the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The NCQG decision agreed to triple finance to developing countries to USD 300 billion annually by 2035, up from the previous goal of USD 100 billion, while setting USD 1.3 trillion as the overall ambition to scale up climate finance to.
The NCQG decision text also provided a strong basis for empowering GCF's role. To deliver on the USD 300 billion goal, financial outflows to developing countries will be at least tripled with an expectation that a share of the finance delivered through the UNFCCC’s financing arms will be significantly scaled up. As the largest among the UNFCCC operating entities, GCF will play a central role in channelling resources to developing countries to help them face escalating climate impacts while building prosperous economies.
Other major COP29 highlights included the initiation of deliberations on the Technology Implementation Programme, where GCF is expected to play a pivotal role. GCF closely followed discussions on the Means of Implementation indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation and transformational adaptation. The landmark decision on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which sets out how carbon markets will operate, will give GCF the opportunity to explore how its mandate and support modalities can contribute to advancing carbon markets.
Finally, the COP guidance to GCF recognised GCF’s efforts to enhance and simplify access to climate finance for developing countries. GCF has been undergoing reforms to fulfil the “50by30” initiative. As a roadmap to increase GCF’s capacity to absorb and manage a significant sum of funding by 2030, “50by30” is in step with the NCQG ambition for GCF. It was also agreed that COP will initiate the process to turn its annual guidance to GCF into a biennial one, allowing GCF to respond to the guidance and deliver more concrete results properly.

Read the GCF Executive Director’s statement on the NCQG here.
Other COP29 highlights
Replenishment

Announcement of Sweden’s pledge to GCF by Swedish State Secretary Hakan Jevrell at COP29. Photo: Ministry of International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Sweden
Sweden pledged SEK 8 billion (USD 763 million) to GCF. Total pledges to GCF for its 2024-2027 programming cycle now stand at USD 13.6 billion from 34 countries and one region.
Complementarity and coherence

The four Multilateral Climate Funds - GCF, Adaptation Fund, Climate Investment Funds (CIF), and Global Environment Facility (GEF) – made strides in complementarity and coherence to strengthen access to climate finance. At the November 14th side event, “Catalyzing climate impact,” the four funds committed to efforts to align with each other and enable climate action from a broader range of financiers, including the private sector and Multilateral Development Banks. The four funds also launched the Climate Project Explorer, an AI-powered search platform designed to explore the climate projects and programmes.
Programming support

Cayetano Casado, GCF Regional Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, speaking at the “Building a Water-Resilient Bogotá-Region Landscape” event. Photo: GCF/ Brylle James Galang
Four Project Preparation Facility (PPF) grants were announced to develop projects:
- Building a Water-Resilient Bogotá-Region Landscape in partnership with Conservation International and the Government of Colombia;
- Glaciers to Farms, a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) initiative to promote sustainable water use and food security in Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and Pakistan;
- Support Sustainable Growth for Small Businesses in Kenya, to be developed by the Kenya Commercial Bank, UN Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) and its network member Sustainable Solutions for Africa; and
- A blended finance and technical assistance facility for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa with Climate Asset Management (CAM) and Pollination.
Statements

At the COP29 Presidency “High-Level Roundtable: Turning ambition into action: scaling up adaptation finance for achieving the Global Goal on Adaptation,” GCF Executive Director Mafalda Duarte outlined how the GCF portfolio supports adaptation. Photo: GCF / Brylle James Galang
GCF set out how it is increasing the impact of its adaptation investments in support of the COP29 Presidency’s key initiatives to scale up adaptation: the COP29 Declaration on Water for Climate Action and the Baku Initiative on Human Development for Climate Resilience. GCF has invested USD 7.3 billion in adaptation, allocating a floor of at least half of its adaptation investments to the most climate-vulnerable countries (e.g., Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries, African States) with 64 per cent of the adaptation portfolio currently allocated to them. The Fund is also facilitating increased private-sector investment in adaptation and has invested over USD 1.6 billion in private-sector adaptation projects to date. Read more.
As the international community calls for greater ambition in adaptation and balancing investments between adaptation and mitigation, GCF is already balancing its investments 50/50 across its portfolio. Read here on how GCF investments are also helping developing countries make the clean energy transition.

GCF Chief Strategy and Impact Officer Charles Ehrhart (right) speaking at the Indigenous Peoples event. Photo: GCF / Brylle James Galang
In addition, GCF reaffirmed its commitments to access for Indigenous Peoples, supporting the most vulnerable communities and underserved countries, closing the finance gap for children and youth, enabling and scaling up climate information and early warning systems, and locally led adaptation.
Signings and launches

GCF Private Sector Facility Director Kavita Sinha (second right) with MUFG, FinDev and Climate Fund Managers at the GAIA launch. Photo: GCF / Brylle James Galang
- FinDev Canada, MUFG, GCF, and Climate Fund Managers launched GAIA. This USD 1.48 billion blended finance platform aims to support high-impact climate adaptation and mitigation projects in up to 25 emerging markets and developing economies. GCF is a first-loss investor in the GAIA platform. See more.
- GCF launched Annex III of its “Sector guide: Water security,” which provides practical guidelines on designing climate-resilient sanitation projects. See more.
- GCF and UNHCR signed an MOU to enhance climate finance for displaced communities. This partnership combines UNHCR's expertise in fragile and conflict-affected settings with GCF's mission to scale climate finance in developing countries. See more.
- GCF and SPREP announced the launch of the Pacific Youth Academy, an initiative that will support Pacific youth in developing grassroots climate action campaigns.
For more information, visit the GCF at COP29 microsite.