The Challenges and Opportunities for the Green Climate Fund

Abstract

The importance of the public finance in tackling climate change has been widely recognized by the global communities. As the operating entity of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, the $10.3 billion Green Climate Fund (GCF) holds a potential to be the champion in the international climate finance architecture. Within two and a half years, the GCF approved 76 projects worthy of $3.7 billion and has established partnership with 59 accredited entities. Integrating different concerns into its governance and operational modalities, the GCF maintains an inclusive participation and has profound implication for the international climate change cooperation. While with these achievements, the GCF still faces financial and policy challenges going forward. If the current pace of the project approval continues, the GCF will soon exhaust its resource. The existing policy gaps will also jeopardize GCF meeting its climate goals. To ensure a sustainable and bright future, the GCF needs to take advantage of its opportunities and address the challenges in a wise and strategic way. Given the real scarcity of the public resources available, a top-down combined with bottom-up replenishment modality may be worth exploring.