Most international climate funds are interested in program proposals that will get them the most bang for their buck or result in the most emissions reduction for the least amount of spend. But that’s not what drives the Green Climate Fund. The world’s newest and largest dedicated international climate fund prefers to spend its roughly $10 billion dollar budget on adaptation and mitigation outcomes that are going to catalyze change in the broader context of sustainable development.
“We live in a society and a world today where we need to think of doing things in a nontraditional way if we’re going to achieve the 1.5 degree or 2 degree [Celsius] goal, but the GCF in itself is not going to do it,” says Zaheer Fakir, co-chair of the South Korea-based organization. “What the GCF is doing is creating that environment in which these things can happen.”
Still in its first full year of operation, the GCF aims to distinguish itself from other international climate funds by promoting a “paradigm shift” towards low-emission development pathways and effecting “transformational change” through soliciting programs with a “high-risk appetite” and spurring private sector investment.