Publications & documents
Publications
The Green Climate Fund issues a range of publications for our direct and indirect stakeholders on a diversity of issues – for the general public to industry experts. Stay in tune with our mission and activities around the planet with the issues that speak to you.
Featured publications
Annual Results Report 2020
Annual Results Report 2020: Climate action during the pandemic.
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GCF at a glance
This publication is a useful reference of GCF's portfolio, providing an overview of GCF's projects and programmes, geographic distribution, and breakdowns of GCF funding.
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GCF at a glance: Performance metrics
This publication provides a detailed breakdown of performance metrics that show GCF’s operational progress as we seek to deliver climate finance more quickly and with greater impact.
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GCF: Financing climate action
There is a shrinking window of opportunity to address the climate crisis. Average global temperature is currently estimated to be 1.1°C above pre-industrial times.
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GCF Programming Manual: an introduction to the Green Climate Fund project cycle and project development tools for full-size projects
The GCF Programming Manual provides an overview of the GCF project/programme approval process.
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GCF means business: How the world’s largest climate fund works with the financial sector to drive global change
Climate change offers businesses an unprecedented chance to capitalise on new growth and investment opportunities that can protect the planet as well.
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Sectoral guide: Ecosystems and ecosystem services
February 2022
The GCF sectoral guide seeks to provide an overview of country needs and evidence-based programming experiences in the Ecosystems and ecosystem services sector. It aims to support proposal development for the GCF in line with its investment criteria during its first replenishment period 2020-2023. The objective of guide is to provide a set of ‘how to’ tools to National Designated Authorities and Accredited Entities to support the development of high quality and impactful funding proposals for...
Sectoral guide: Forests and land use
February 2022
The GCF sectoral guide seeks to provide an overview of country needs and evidence-based programming experiences in the Forests and land use sector. It aims to support proposal development for the GCF in line with its investment criteria during its first replenishment period 2020-2023. The objective of guide is to provide a set of ‘how to’ tools to National Designated Authorities and Accredited Entities to support the development of high quality and impactful funding proposals for consideration...
ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility (ACGF)
February 2022
Economic growth in developing countries in Southeast Asia must be de- coupled from carbon emissions to support the climate transition. In the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, fossil fuels dominate the power supply, and there is an increasing demand for passenger and freight transport. Deforestation and forest degradation continue to destroy critical carbon sinks across Cambodia, Indonesia, and Lao PDR. Southeast Asia also presents fast-changing climatic vulnerabilities, with average...
The Global Subnational Climate Fund (SnCF GLOBAL)
February 2022
Climate action means local action: 70% of climate solutions fall under the boundaries of sub-national authorities. But there is a chronic shortage of private finance for such local solutions, since investors prefer larger investments that are perceived as safer. Structuring and de-risking sub- national projects is essential to catalyse funding from both private and public investors.
GCF in Brief: Direct access
December 2021
One of the Green Climate Fund’s distinctive features is the provision for developing countries to access financial resources through national entities, meaning that climate finance can be channelled to the country directly. This factsheet explains how direct access works and the support provided for direct access Accredited Entities.
GCF in Brief: Complementarity and coherence
December 2021
GCF is committed to ensuring that our activities complement those of other funds, and that together we have a coherent approach to supporting the climate ambitions of developing countries. Complementarity refers to synergies among the various climate funds’ activities in similar sectors and themes (adaptation or mitigation), and even across regions of similar characteristics, with the aim of scaling up transformative actions. Coherence is about using country programming to seek alignment with...
Accelerating and scaling up climate innovation: How the Green Climate Fund’s approach can deliver new climate solutions for developing countries
November 2021
Climate innovation is critical to avert catastrophic climate change, but investment in new climate solutions is hampered by a range of barriers. This Working Paper first identifies the main barriers to climate innovation in developing countries, focusing on each stage of the innovation chain, from the emergence of innovation to its deployment and eventual widespread adoption. Many of these barriers are related to the policy and regulatory environment as well as to technical and macro-economic...
Towards a Long-Term Vision on Complementarity GEF and GCF Collaboration
November 2021
This document presents a Long-Term Vision on Complementarity and Coherence collaboration between the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), herein after referred to as LTV. This new vision aims to build on the Pilot Coordinated Engagement exercise the GCF and GEF have been carrying out since 2018, and further define specific areas of cooperation, where complementarity of action might be most efficient and effective, and possible modalities to generate long-lasting...
Enhancing Direct Access Guidelines
November 2021
The Green Climate Fund (GCF), Enhancing Direct Access (EDA) pilot intends to boost access by sub-national, national and regional, public, and private entities to GCF climate finance. EDA promotes country ownership of projects and programmes and devolves decision-making to local actors. This publication provides non-prescriptive guidance about how to structure an EDA Pilot intervention. It is primarily intended to support GCF Direct Access Entities (DAEs), National Designated Authorities and...
Upscaling climate resilience measures in the dry corridor agroecosystems of El Salvador (RECLIMA)
October 2021
Located in the dry corridor of Central America, El Salvador is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate risks in the world. At present, it is already facing water stress, with the per capita availability of freshwater well below the critical threshold of 1,700cubic metres per capita per year. Projected increases in the variability of rainfall, temperature, and occurrence of extreme weather events threaten the food and water security of farming ...
GCF: Financing climate action
October 2021
There is a shrinking window of opportunity to address the climate crisis. Average global temperature is currently estimated to be 1.1°C above pre-industrial times. Based on existing trends, the world could cross the 1.5°C threshold within the next two decades and 2°C threshold early during the second half of the century. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C is still narrowly possible and will be determined by the investment decisions we make over the next decade. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) – a...
Thematic brief: Oceans
October 2021
Oceans and coastal ecosystems cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, providing a natural asset of enormous significance to protect our planet, preserve and enhance local economic growth, promote regional stability and conserve global biodiversity. This generates vital ecosystem goods and services that support our future, such as climate and temperature regulation, absorption of carbon emissions, fisheries, food security, coastal protection, tourism services and jobs. Marine...
Thematic brief: Leveraging equity finance to scale up climate innovation & investment
October 2021
Over the past decade, blended finance – which uses public funds to share risk and crowd-in private investment through co-financing - has usually taken the form of relatively safe senior debt rather than more risky instruments such as equity or guarantees that could have higher leveraging ratios and better meet the needs of private investors to finance the emergence, deployment and widespread adoption of new climate solutions. Equity is essential for young companies, particularly in developing...
Thematic brief: Agriculture and food security
October 2021
Farmers are facing unprecedented interlinked global shocks and challenges that threaten the gains in global food security and poverty reduction in recent years. Since most agriculture is rainfed in developing countries, climate change directly impacts agriculture by increasing temperatures and changing when and how much it rains. Most of the seeds, animals, and farming practices providing the world’s food are less productive as the climate changes, having been developed for past climates. Hence...
Cooling facility
October 2021
As global temperatures increase and the demand for cooling rises, so do the emission levels of greenhouse and fluorinated gases, which have a very high global warming potential. Reports cite that at 1.5°C of warming – a threshold that could be reached by 2030 - 2.3 billion people could be vulnerable to illness and death from heatwave events (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2019) and productivity loss could be the equivalent of 80 million full-time jobs (International Labor...
Global fund for coral reefs investment window (GFCR)
October 2021
Coral reefs are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems by climate change impacts. And drivers such as overfishing, agricultural run-off, sewage discharge and unsustainable tourism degrade the coral reefs, further decreasing their chance of survival. Studies have shown that local management of such threats can alleviate the impacts of climate change on the coral reefs. Thus, supporting and providing capital to businesses and companies for the sustainable use of ocean resources can...
The Amazon bioeconomy fund
October 2021
Home to the world’s largest tropical forest, the Amazon is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The combination of increased temperatures and human-induced deforestation are creating adverse climate feedback loops. Increasingly warmer and drier conditions will further result in forest degradation and loss of ecological functions, ultimatelybringingtheAmazonforeststothepointofnoreturn. Known as the tipping point, there may come a time when the forests die and are replaced by dry savannah...
Thematic brief: Adaptation
October 2021
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is committed to investing in developing countries’ efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change. GCF is delivering on our targets for adaptation and resilience by ensuring a 50/50 balance in allocation of funding between mitigation and adaptation projects, with over 50% of adaptation funding going to Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) and African States. The Fund is uniquely placed to attract private investment by de-...