The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved 15 new climate projects totaling US$7.5bn, including US$1.2bn in GCF funding and US$6.3bn in co-financing. Three meteorological-related projects in Africa, Uzbekistan and the Indian Ocean will receive funding.
The Green Climate Fund was created to support the efforts of developing countries in responding to the challenge of climate change. It operates within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The new projects raise GCF’s total portfolio to US$8.4bn in GCF resources and to US$30.3bn including funding from all sources.
GCF executive director Yannick Glemarec said, “2020 was a record year of programming for GCF, and we have started this year with even greater ambition. We are building our portfolio rapidly, and at the same time accelerating our efforts to deliver climate finance on the ground with more projects under implementation. With the world grappling with the twin challenges of climate and Covid-19, it is critical that we build back better, supporting the climate ambitions of developing countries whilst helping them recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic.”
The GCF board approved US$52.8m for the Building Regional Resilience through Strengthened Meteorological, Hydrological and Climate Services in the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) Member Countries with the French Development Agency (AFD) in Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles.
Furthermore US$82.8m was approved for The Africa Integrated Climate Risk Management Programme: Building the resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change impacts in seven Sahelian Countries of the Great Green Wall (GGW) with the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Burkina Faso, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
And US$10m was approved under GCF’s Simplified Approval Process (SAP) for the Enhancing Multi-Hazard Early Warning System to increase resilience of Uzbekistan communities to climate change induced hazards with UNDP.
More details of each of the approved projects are available here.