The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the newest actor in the multilateral climate finance architecture and became fully operational in 2015, approving USD 168 million for its first eight projects just weeks before COP 21. The GCF is an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism of the UNFCCC. A legally independent institution hosted by South Korea, it has its own secretariat and the World Bank as its interim trustee but functions under the guidance of, and is accountable to, the UNFCCC COP. The 24 GCF Board members, with equal representation of developed and developing countries, and support from the secretariat have been working to operationalise the fund since their first meeting in August 2012. This year the GCF further developed essential policies and frameworks to receive, manage, programme and disburse finance as well as measure and account for its results and impacts. It also accredited its first 20 implementing entities. The initial resource mobilisation effort that began in June 2014, raised USD 10.2 billion from 37 contributing countries (including eight developing countries). In 2015, USD 5.8 billion of pledged finance was formalised through contribution agreements. Heading into COP 21 in Paris, this Climate Finance Fundamental provides a snapshot of the operationalisation and functions of the Fund. The Fund’s role in a post-2020 climate regime as the major finance channel under the Convention as well as the scale of its resourcing remain to be clarified and confirmed in Paris. Past editions of this Climate Finance Fundamental detail the design and operationalisation phases of the Fund.
Schalatek, L. and Nakhooda, S. and Watson, C. (2015). The Green Climate Fund - Climate Finance Fundamentals. Climate Funds Update. Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America and Overseas Development Institute, Washington DC and London
