Blog note by Liane Schalatek, Heinrich Boell Foundation US

The 5th GCF Board Meeting in Paris – making progress on the business model framework and mobilizing resources

The GCF Board is due to meet for the 5th time from October 8 – 10 in Paris and will try to work its way through a long agenda with close to 20 separate items – a number of them left over from the last meeting in June in Songdo.

What is at stake this time? Most importantly, the Business Model Framework (BMF). Board members are expected to make ambitious decisions on the results areas that the GCF should focus on to start with, the performance indicators and the key criteria – beyond C02 emission cuts and vulnerability - the Board should apply to measure if its future investment decisions contribute to a global paradigm shift. The Board is also expected to decide on criteria and terms for the initial financial instruments (grants and concessional loans) and to establish the parameters for three important bodies under the Private Sector Facility. The Board will also work on the contours of its relationship with recipient countries by establishing rules for i) the transparent no-objection procedure (that developing countries defended in Durban) and for ii) the interim accreditation procedures for the subnational, national, regional and international institutions that will be implementing GCF projects and programs.

A number of contentious questions are also on the agenda, including for instance: the fiduciary standards and social, gender and environmental safeguards the accredited institutions will have to follow and the extent to which resource allocation under the GCF should be results-based. The Board will also be having a tough discussion on resource mobilization, which has proved insufficient so far for the GCF and barely covers the Fund’s ongoing administrative budget. Developing countries are calling for a decision in Paris on the resource mobilization strategy and a commitment from developed countries to fast-track readiness and preparatory support.

Another key stake of the Paris meeting - considering it is in the Board’s mandate by COP19 - is the decision to be made on the arrangements between the COP and the Fund, drawing from the language suggested by a recent Standing Committee on Finance meeting. The long list of agenda items includes decisions on a new Fund logo, on an interim information disclosure policy, on ways to improve the Fund’s relationship with observer organizations and how to make progress towards a gender-sensitive approach. For the outgoing co-chairs from South Africa and Australia, the pressure is high to leave a clean slate to the new Board leadership that will take over at the end of the Paris meeting.

In the following sections you will find:

1) Update on the 5th Standing Committee on Finance meeting

2) Update on the 4th meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board

3) Wrap-up of event on ‘Scaling up climate finance - Long-Term Finance Work Programme’

4) Recommended reading

Return to the CFAS recommended reading