The Green Climate Fund: how attractive is it to donor countries?

Destined to channel a significant part of the US$ 100 billion pledge made by developed countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has been set up with the ambition of becoming the main global fund in the area of climate finance. Although many pieces of the final puzzle are still missing the GCF is now ready to solicit funding. It is a fact that its institutional design has little in common with the very successful trust funds operating under the aegis of the World Bank. This paper explores the reasons that are at the centre of the massive growth in ‘multi-bi-financing’ and provides an overview of the most recent trends in ODA and climate finance. Based on this study, it analyses whether the GCF is an attractive institutional channel for donors. It concludes that many of the GCF’s design elements should be improved, notably with the view to enhancing value for money integrating actively civil society actors and leveraging effectively private capital.