The result of today’s replenishment round for the UN Green Climate Fund is disappointing. Twenty-five donor countries have contributed a mere 9.3 billion US dollars to finance climate action in developing countries. Admittedly, the small amount can be quickly explained: The United States has not yet been able to make a commitment because of the budget dispute. Sweden and Italy also plan to contribute, but have not yet named a sum. In the near future, the ten billion from the last replenishment round will probably be exceeded.
However, with Japan and Norway, some big donors have reduced their contributions. The lack of willingness and the budget dispute in the USA do not cast a promising light on the upcoming COP28, as Lukas Scheid reports from Bonn. Today, the 46 poorest countries expressed their expectations for a good COP outcome. More climate financing is one of their priorities. Actually, the Western group of countries should lead the way and put pressure on countries like China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia to participate voluntarily.
Shortly before today’s summit, Mafalda Duarte warned: “We are all in the same boat.” The Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund wants the GCF to grow to 50 billion US dollars by 2030. She is one of the few female leaders in international climate finance and has experienced the consequences of the climate crisis first-hand. We introduce her in today’s Profile.
The developed countries want to endow the Green Climate Fund (GCF) with around half a billion US dollars less than four years ago. While the pledged amount for projects in the countries most affected by climate change was 9.8 billion US dollars in 2019, it is so far only 9.322 billion US dollars for the period from 2024 to 2027. Nevertheless, there is talk of optimism and solidarity at Thursday’s replenishment conference for the GCF in Bonn.
Many pledges have been made, and more will follow before the World Climate Conference in Dubai in December, emphasizes German Development Minister Svenja Schulze. Germany alone contributes 2.1 billion dollars. Germany is committed to its responsibility and is paying its “fair share,” said Schulze in Bonn. On this basis, she said, others could now be called upon to contribute their fair share as well. “In addition to the other industrialized countries, I increasingly see countries that do not belong to the classic donors bearing responsibility here: For example, the Gulf States, which have become rich from fossil energies; or also emerging countries such as China, which now have large shares of global CO2 emissions.”
Schulze clarifies in Bonn what will be one of the most pressing issues in Dubai: Who pays in, and who gets something from the pots of international climate finance? This also applies to the fund for loss and damage caused by climate change. The German government now sees a stronger position – and that of the EU – to turn China and the oil-producing Gulf states into donor countries.
However, the environment and development organization Germanwatch considers the lower sum compared to the last replenishment round a wrong signal to potential new donors. “A higher replenishment would have shown that countries are coming with great commitment to the negotiating table in Dubai and not empty-handed,” says David Eckstein, Senior Policy Advisor for climate finance and investment at Germanwatch.
Admittedly, some European developed countries have raised their contributions, in some cases significantly, including Germany, Ireland and Slovenia. Jan Kowalzig, climate finance expert at Oxfam Germany, says this is a step forward. On the other hand, he is disappointed that countries like France, Finland and Norway have pledged less than in the last replenishment round of the GCF.
Moreover, five countries have not yet named exact sums for their contribution to the GCF in Bonn: Australia, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. “These countries must now prepare ambitious pledges for the GCF in the coming weeks and announce them at COP28,” Kowalzig demands.
Australia and the United States had withdrawn from the GCF after its inception in 2014. It is, therefore, considered an enormously positive signal in Bonn that both are now back on board. However, expectations are also high. As the country that should provide the largest share to climate finance “the US should make a substantial contribution before COP28” to strengthen its credibility in the run-up to the negotiations, says Shuang Liu, Global Finance Director at the World Resources Institute.
The Bonn conference should, therefore, only be seen as a prelude to fresh money for international climate financing. When asked by Table.Media, GCF Director Mafalda Duarte expressed confidence that the outstanding contributions from the five countries would eventually surpass the last replenishment round.
Jennifer Morgan, State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Action at the Federal Foreign Office, also expects more pledges to follow. She considers the conference in Bonn more of a confirmation for everyone that they are part of something. This was also shown by the small but first and above all symbolic contributions of 100,000 dollars from Israel and Mongolia.
The Green Climate Fund was established in 2015 with around ten billion US dollars. However, the sum was lowered because then US President Donald Trump refused to fulfill the pledges made by his predecessor, Barack Obama. In 2019, the GCF was replenished for the first time. This year’s conference was the second replenishment. What is special about the GCF is that developing countries – i.e., the recipient countries – have an equal say in the board of directors on what happens with the money. In addition, one half of the money will go to emission reduction projects and the other half to climate adaptation projects.
One of the few women leaders in the multilateral climate finance space, Mafalda Duarte has made it her life’s work to provide finance for vulnerable countries. Her appointment this spring as Executive Director of the world’s largest dedicated climate fund – the UN’s Green Climate Fund – is perhaps her best opportunity yet to deliver on her mission.
Originally from Covilhã in Portugal, Duarte joined the GCF, in South Korea, on 1 August in a critical year for the fund, which is seeking fresh contributions from donor countries for its replenishment.
In a first test of her leadership, Duarte hosted a pledging conference on Thursday. The amount she is able to raise before the COP28 climate talks in Dubai will be seen as a vote of confidence in her abilities, analysts say.
Duarte is not new to the role of fundraiser-in-chief. For nine years, she was the CEO of the Climate Investment Funds, which works to mobilize finance to scale climate solutions in developing countries. There, she successfully convinced G7 economies to increase their finance pledges. Many hope she can replicate this success at the GCF.
After studying international development and economics in Portugal and the UK, Duarte spent time in Mozambique, where she provided economic advice to the government and witnessed the impacts of flooding and droughts. Her experience working in African countries and a climate change course at Columbia University turned her attention to climate action. With a career spanning nearly 20 years in climate finance, Duarte worked where she could have an impact, holding senior positions at the African Development Bank and the World Bank.
A mother of three girls, she is steadfast in her conviction that women’s empowerment is a necessary lever for climate action. “We might invest in women’s leadership like our future depends on it because it actually does,” she said recently. In 2019, she made her first application to head the GCF but she lost out to a shortlist of three white men. Earlier this year, she was named as a potential candidate for President of the World Bank.
Never giving up, and now in the GCF’s top job, she arguably holds one of the world’s most important climate finance positions. Established in 2010, the GCF is a critical pillar of the grand bargain between wealthy and poorer nations which underpins the Paris Agreement: developing countries agreed to cut emissions in exchange for financial support. Duarte has promised to address the culture of the GCF, which was embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, and speed up and scale up the disbursement of finance to vulnerable nations.
At the UN Climate Ambition summit last month, she unveiled a vision to reform the fund and triple its capitalization to 50 billion US dollars by 2030. Her priorities include simplifying access to finance, reviewing and approving projects faster, and mobilizing more private capital.
Climate finance watchers have welcomed her ambition. Vulnerable countries will be eager to see her deliver. Chloé Farand
The result of today’s replenishment round for the UN Green Climate Fund is disappointing. Twenty-five donor countries have contributed a mere 9.3 billion US dollars to finance climate action in developing countries. Admittedly, the small amount can be quickly explained: The United States has not yet been able to make a commitment because of the budget dispute. Sweden and Italy also plan to contribute, but have not yet named a sum. In the near future, the ten billion from the last replenishment round will probably be exceeded.
However, with Japan and Norway, some big donors have reduced their contributions. The lack of willingness and the budget dispute in the USA do not cast a promising light on the upcoming COP28, as Lukas Scheid reports from Bonn. Today, the 46 poorest countries expressed their expectations for a good COP outcome. More climate financing is one of their priorities. Actually, the Western group of countries should lead the way and put pressure on countries like China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia to participate voluntarily.
Shortly before today’s summit, Mafalda Duarte warned: “We are all in the same boat.” The Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund wants the GCF to grow to 50 billion US dollars by 2030. She is one of the few female leaders in international climate finance and has experienced the consequences of the climate crisis first-hand. We introduce her in today’s Profile.
The developed countries want to endow the Green Climate Fund (GCF) with around half a billion US dollars less than four years ago. While the pledged amount for projects in the countries most affected by climate change was 9.8 billion US dollars in 2019, it is so far only 9.322 billion US dollars for the period from 2024 to 2027. Nevertheless, there is talk of optimism and solidarity at Thursday’s replenishment conference for the GCF in Bonn.
Many pledges have been made, and more will follow before the World Climate Conference in Dubai in December, emphasizes German Development Minister Svenja Schulze. Germany alone contributes 2.1 billion dollars. Germany is committed to its responsibility and is paying its “fair share,” said Schulze in Bonn. On this basis, she said, others could now be called upon to contribute their fair share as well. “In addition to the other industrialized countries, I increasingly see countries that do not belong to the classic donors bearing responsibility here: For example, the Gulf States, which have become rich from fossil energies; or also emerging countries such as China, which now have large shares of global CO2 emissions.”
Schulze clarifies in Bonn what will be one of the most pressing issues in Dubai: Who pays in, and who gets something from the pots of international climate finance? This also applies to the fund for loss and damage caused by climate change. The German government now sees a stronger position – and that of the EU – to turn China and the oil-producing Gulf states into donor countries.
However, the environment and development organization Germanwatch considers the lower sum compared to the last replenishment round a wrong signal to potential new donors. “A higher replenishment would have shown that countries are coming with great commitment to the negotiating table in Dubai and not empty-handed,” says David Eckstein, Senior Policy Advisor for climate finance and investment at Germanwatch.
Admittedly, some European developed countries have raised their contributions, in some cases significantly, including Germany, Ireland and Slovenia. Jan Kowalzig, climate finance expert at Oxfam Germany, says this is a step forward. On the other hand, he is disappointed that countries like France, Finland and Norway have pledged less than in the last replenishment round of the GCF.
Moreover, five countries have not yet named exact sums for their contribution to the GCF in Bonn: Australia, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. “These countries must now prepare ambitious pledges for the GCF in the coming weeks and announce them at COP28,” Kowalzig demands.
Australia and the United States had withdrawn from the GCF after its inception in 2014. It is, therefore, considered an enormously positive signal in Bonn that both are now back on board. However, expectations are also high. As the country that should provide the largest share to climate finance “the US should make a substantial contribution before COP28” to strengthen its credibility in the run-up to the negotiations, says Shuang Liu, Global Finance Director at the World Resources Institute.
The Bonn conference should, therefore, only be seen as a prelude to fresh money for international climate financing. When asked by Table.Media, GCF Director Mafalda Duarte expressed confidence that the outstanding contributions from the five countries would eventually surpass the last replenishment round.
Jennifer Morgan, State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Action at the Federal Foreign Office, also expects more pledges to follow. She considers the conference in Bonn more of a confirmation for everyone that they are part of something. This was also shown by the small but first and above all symbolic contributions of 100,000 dollars from Israel and Mongolia.
The Green Climate Fund was established in 2015 with around ten billion US dollars. However, the sum was lowered because then US President Donald Trump refused to fulfill the pledges made by his predecessor, Barack Obama. In 2019, the GCF was replenished for the first time. This year’s conference was the second replenishment. What is special about the GCF is that developing countries – i.e., the recipient countries – have an equal say in the board of directors on what happens with the money. In addition, one half of the money will go to emission reduction projects and the other half to climate adaptation projects.
One of the few women leaders in the multilateral climate finance space, Mafalda Duarte has made it her life’s work to provide finance for vulnerable countries. Her appointment this spring as Executive Director of the world’s largest dedicated climate fund – the UN’s Green Climate Fund – is perhaps her best opportunity yet to deliver on her mission.
Originally from Covilhã in Portugal, Duarte joined the GCF, in South Korea, on 1 August in a critical year for the fund, which is seeking fresh contributions from donor countries for its replenishment.
In a first test of her leadership, Duarte hosted a pledging conference on Thursday. The amount she is able to raise before the COP28 climate talks in Dubai will be seen as a vote of confidence in her abilities, analysts say.
Duarte is not new to the role of fundraiser-in-chief. For nine years, she was the CEO of the Climate Investment Funds, which works to mobilize finance to scale climate solutions in developing countries. There, she successfully convinced G7 economies to increase their finance pledges. Many hope she can replicate this success at the GCF.
After studying international development and economics in Portugal and the UK, Duarte spent time in Mozambique, where she provided economic advice to the government and witnessed the impacts of flooding and droughts. Her experience working in African countries and a climate change course at Columbia University turned her attention to climate action. With a career spanning nearly 20 years in climate finance, Duarte worked where she could have an impact, holding senior positions at the African Development Bank and the World Bank.
A mother of three girls, she is steadfast in her conviction that women’s empowerment is a necessary lever for climate action. “We might invest in women’s leadership like our future depends on it because it actually does,” she said recently. In 2019, she made her first application to head the GCF but she lost out to a shortlist of three white men. Earlier this year, she was named as a potential candidate for President of the World Bank.
Never giving up, and now in the GCF’s top job, she arguably holds one of the world’s most important climate finance positions. Established in 2010, the GCF is a critical pillar of the grand bargain between wealthy and poorer nations which underpins the Paris Agreement: developing countries agreed to cut emissions in exchange for financial support. Duarte has promised to address the culture of the GCF, which was embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, and speed up and scale up the disbursement of finance to vulnerable nations.
At the UN Climate Ambition summit last month, she unveiled a vision to reform the fund and triple its capitalization to 50 billion US dollars by 2030. Her priorities include simplifying access to finance, reviewing and approving projects faster, and mobilizing more private capital.
Climate finance watchers have welcomed her ambition. Vulnerable countries will be eager to see her deliver. Chloé Farand
