Latest News

The world's largest climate fund increases investment plans

The largest multilateral climate fund in the world said that it would make its biggest ever investment and accelerate dealmaking to help poorer countries respond to global warming.

Green Climate Fund shareholders, including the United States, approved a plan this week to release $1.2 billion in funding for 17 projects mainly in Asia and Africa. This comes against a turbulent political background that has seen aid cuts.

In a report published in June, the OECD stated that official development assistance may fall by 17% in this year, after a 9% decline in 2024. This is due to President Donald Trump's massive cuts in U.S. government aid.

In a press release, GCF Co-Chair Seyni NAFO said: "At a moment when collective climate action has never been more necessary, GCF is taking steps to fulfill its mandate."

The GCF has allocated $227 million to expand the green bond market in 10 countries. Green bond markets is where companies raise funds for projects that reduce climate change or benefit the environment.

In South Asia it will invest 200 million dollars in the India Green Finance Facility, which will scale up renewables and energy-efficiency, while in East Africa, it will spend $150 million on the food system, to support almost 18 million people.

All projects combined will bring GCF's investment portfolio up to $18 billion in 133 different countries. To date, countries have paid $21 billion and pledged 29.9 billion dollars to the GCF.

The GCF board approved plans for a faster pace of work with its partners, including accrediated entities such as other multilateral lenders or so-called Direct Access Entities (DAEs) in developing countries.

The aim is to reduce the average time taken to accredit an DAE to nine months by revising its procedures and completing much of the due diligence during the project phase. (Reporting and editing by Emelia Sithole Matarise; Virgina Furness, Simon Jessop)

(source: Reuters)