Green Climate Fund

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a fund for climate finance that was established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Its objective is to assist developing countries with climate change adaptation and mitigation activities. The GFC is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC. It is based in Incheon, South Korea. It is governed by a Board of 24 members and supported by a Secretariat.

The Green Climate Fund supports projects and other activities in developing countries using thematic funding windows. It is intended that the Green Climate Fund be the centrepiece of efforts to raise climate finance under the UNFCCC. There are four other, smaller multilateral climate funds for paying out money in climate finance which are coordinated by the UNFCCC. These include the Adaptation Fund (AF), the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The GFC is the largest of these five funds.

As at 3 February 2020, a total of US$10.3 billion has been pledged and US$8.24 billion confirmed, as part of the Initial Resource Mobilization (IRM) period.

The process of designing the GCF has raised several issues. These include ongoing questions on how funds will be raised, the role of the private sector, the level of "country ownership" of resources, and the transparency of the Board itself. Also, this additional international climate institution might further fragment taxpayer's money that is put towards climate action.

The Fund's former director Héla Cheikhrouhou has complained in 2016 that the Fund is backing too many "business-as-usual types of investment proposals". This view is echoed by a number of civil society organizations.