Governance

GCF is accountable to and functions under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties (COP), and is also governed and supervised by the GCF Board

Overview

GCF is accountable to the United Nations. It is guided by the principles and provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Green Climate Fund is the only stand-alone multilateral financing entity whose sole mandate is to serve the Convention and that aims to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation.

UNFCCC

GCF is a main operating entity under the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was given the mandate to make "an ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change." The Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC established GCF to make a significant shift towards low emission and climate resilient development pathways in developing countries and help achieve the goal of keeping a global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC provides guidance annually to GCF on its policies, programme priorities and eligibility criteria as an operating entity entrusted with the operation of the Financial Mechanism of the Convention. The Board therefore takes appropriate action on guidance received from the COP on an ongoing basis and submits annual reports to the COP for its consideration and to receive further guidance.

GCF also operates in the context of appropriate arrangements between itself and other existing funds under the Convention, and between itself and other funds, entities, and channels of climate change financing outside the Fund. We have developed methods to enhance complementarity between our activities and those of other relevant funding mechanisms and institutions, to better mobilise the full range of financial and technical capacities.