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Funding

The GEF administers different trust funds: Global Environment Facility Trust Fund (GEF); Least Developed Countries Trust Fund (LDCF); Special Climate Change Trust Fund (SCCF); Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund (NPIF). The GEF also provides secretariat services, on an interim basis, for the Adaptation Fund.

The Global Environment Facility Trust Fund

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. GEF funding to support the projects is contributed by donor countries. These financial contributions are replenished every four years.

The funds have been provided by the GEF 39 donor countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.

GEF funds are available to developing countries and countries with economies in transition to meet the objectives of the international environmental conventions and agreements.

The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF)

The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) supports adaptation and technology transfer in all developing country parties to the UNFCCC, supporting both long-term and short-term adaptation activities in water resources management, land management, agriculture, health, infrastructure development, fragile ecosystems, including mountainous ecosystems, and integrated coastal zone management.

ESTd 2001: A voluntary trust fund which finances activities, programs and measures relating to climate change complementary to those funded by the resources allocated to the climate change focal area of the GEF, as well as to those provided by bilateral and multilateral funding.

The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF)

The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), established under the UNFCCC, addresses the special needs of the 51 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that are especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.

The LDCF reduces the vulnerability of sectors and resources that are central to development and livelihoods, such as water, agriculture and food security, health, disaster risk management and prevention, infrastructure, and fragile ecosystems.

Tasked with financing the preparation and implementation of National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPAs). NAPAs use existing information to identify a country’s priorities for adaptation actions. The LDCF is the only existing fund whose mandate is to finance the preparation and implementation of the NAPAs.

The Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund

The Nagoya Protocol fund supports signatory countries, as well as those in the process of signing The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (the Nagoya Protocol) and that intend to ratify the Protocol in order to accelerate the ratification and implementation of the Protocol. The Fund supports existing opportunities leading to development and implementation of concrete Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) agreements with involvement of the private sectors, among others.

ESTd 2001: A multi-donor trust fund that can receive voluntary contributions of multiple governments and the private sector. Encourages engagement with private sector entities interested in exploring the economic potential of genetic resources and facilitate the transfer of appropriate technologies. Through the implementation of this type of project, countries should be generating additional information that can help to understand their capacities and needs on ABS, with focus on the provisions from existing policies, laws and regulations affecting genetic resources.

The governments of Japan, Switzerland, Norway, France, and the United Kingdom have committed approximately US$ 14.85 million in contributions to the NPIF.

The Adaptation Trust Fund

The Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol and are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), emission-reduction projects in developing countries can earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits, which can be traded and sold by industrialized countries to meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

Financing for the Adaptation Fund comes mainly from sales of certified emission reductions. The share of proceeds amounts to 2 per cent of the value of CERs issued each year for CDM projects. The fund also receives contributions from governments, the private sector, and individuals. The Adaptation Fund is supervised and managed by the Adaptation Fund Board.