Green Climate Fund and Global Climate Finance

The Green Climate Fund helps developing countries deal with climate change. This card shows what it does, who set it up and where it is based. Later cards give the numbers.

What does the GCF do?

The GCF describes itself as “the world’s largest dedicated climate fund”. That is its own description, not a ranking we checked. It channels finance to developing countries. It works with partners on country-driven projects and programmes.

The GCF supports two kinds of climate action, mitigation and adaptation. Its About page says it aims for a 50:50 balance between the two over time. Card 3 shows the actual split.

• Money committed: over USD 20 billion across 134 developing countries, as the About page read on 9 October 2026.
• Tools: grants, concessional financing, guarantees and equity.

Who set it up, and what kind of body is it?

The Fund was established in 2010 by the 194 Parties to the UNFCCC. It is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC.

The Cancun decision (1/CP.16) gives the legal step. Its paragraph 102 decides to establish a Green Climate Fund. The Fund is “to be designated” as an operating entity of the financial mechanism under Article 11 of the Convention. Paragraph 103 gives it a Board of 24 members. Developing and developed countries have equal numbers of seats.

Was it created by UNEP, the OECD or a bank?

The Fund was created by a decision of UNFCCC Parties. The sources opened name no founding role for UNEP, the OECD, the Asian Development Bank or the World Bank. Card 9 shows how a UPSC question used this point.

Where is the Fund based?

The GCF is based in Songdo, Incheon, in the Republic of Korea. Its offices are in G-Tower. The GCF headquarters page calls G-Tower an eco-friendly building. It also houses several UN agencies.

The GCF took shape over several years of climate talks. The steps run from a named idea in 2009 to an open office in 2013. Each step has its own decision or agreement.

Where does the idea appear?

In the Copenhagen Accord of 2009, developed countries committed to a goal of mobilising jointly USD 100 billion a year by 2020. Paragraph 10 of the Accord says a Copenhagen Green Climate Fund shall be established. It would be an operating entity of the financial mechanism. This is the idea stage.

The Accord set the USD 100 billion goal in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation.

What did Cancun decide in 2010?

At COP16 in Cancun, the Parties adopted decision 1/CP.16. Three paragraphs matter.

• Paragraph 98: developed countries again set the goal of mobilising jointly USD 100 billion per year by 2020.
• Paragraph 100: a significant share of new multilateral funding for adaptation should flow through the GCF.
• Paragraph 102: the Parties decide to establish a Green Climate Fund.

What did Durban add in 2011?

At COP17 in Durban, decision 3/CP.17 was titled “Launching the Green Climate Fund”. It is dated 11 December 2011. It approved the governing instrument and designated the GCF as an operating entity.

The decision also asked for a no-objection procedure through national designated authorities. It asked the Board to balance allocation between adaptation and mitigation. It asked the Board to set policies for an early and adequate replenishment process.

Why Songdo, and when did it open?

The Headquarters Agreement was signed in June 2013. It came into force in August 2013. The Board chose Songdo after six countries submitted bids. The headquarters opened in December 2013.

The GCF page describes Songdo as a planned city on reclaimed land. It lies about 65 km southwest of Seoul.

The numbers below come from the GCF portfolio dashboard, read on 9 October 2026. The tiles and the region, sector and access charts carry no date of their own. The theme and instrument charts say “as of 7 Jul 2026”. Each figure below says which date applies.

What are the headline figures?

The dashboard tiles, read on 9 October 2026, show these totals. GCF gives the tiles no date.

• Projects: 358.
• GCF commitments: USD 20.3 billion.
• Co-financing: USD 59.9 billion.
• Total value: USD 80.3 billion.
• Under implementation: USD 18.2 billion.
• Disbursed: USD 7.4 billion.

The dashboard figures are rounded, so the parts do not add exactly. Our own sum of 20.3 and 59.9 is 80.2, while the dashboard shows 80.3.

Two ratios are our own calculation from the dashboard totals, not GCF figures. Disbursed money is 7.4 divided by 20.3, about 36 per cent of commitments. Co-financing is 59.9 divided by 20.3, about USD 2.95 for each USD 1 of GCF money.

How did the count move this year?

A GCF news item of 28 March 2026 reports that the 44th Board meeting (B.44) approved USD 960.3 million for 18 new projects. The same item says the portfolio had passed USD 20 billion across 354 projects. The dashboard tiles read on 9 October 2026 showed 358 projects.

The USD 80.3 billion total value counts GCF commitments and co-financing together.

Where does the money go?

The dashboard region chart, read on 9 October 2026 and undated by GCF, splits commitments like this.

• Africa: USD 7.7 billion, 38 per cent.
• Asia-Pacific: USD 5.8 billion, 28 per cent.
• Latin America and the Caribbean: USD 4.7 billion, 23 per cent.
• Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East: USD 2.2 billion, 11 per cent.

These amounts are rounded. Our own sum of the four is 20.4, against the 20.3 headline.

Is the split really 50:50?

The 50:50 figure is a target “over time”. The actual split depends on how you count.

• Nominal view, as of 7 July 2026: adaptation USD 10.3 billion and mitigation USD 10.1 billion, 50 per cent each.
• Grant-equivalent view, as of 7 July 2026: adaptation USD 8.0 billion (60 per cent) and mitigation USD 5.3 billion (40 per cent).

Which tools and which sectors?

As of 7 July 2026, the dashboard instrument chart shows these amounts.

• Grants: USD 9.4 billion.
• Loans: USD 7.4 billion.
• Equity: USD 2.5 billion.
• Results-based payments: USD 724.6 million.
• Guarantees: USD 407 million.

The sector chart has no GCF date. Read on 9 October 2026, it shows the public sector at USD 13.2 billion (65 per cent). It shows the private sector at USD 7.2 billion (35 per cent). The tiles also give anticipated results. They expect 1.6 billion people with increased resilience and 3.4 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent avoided.

The GCF is topped up in rounds. Each round collects pledges from contributors. This card follows the rounds in order and warns about one number that appears twice.

What are the rounds?

What did the IRM raise?

The GCF says it quickly raised USD 9.3 billion in pledges in 2014. As at 31 July 2020, that sum came from 49 countries, regions and cities. Nine of them represent developing countries. So contributors are not all rich countries.

What happened in GCF-1?

The Board launched the GCF-1 process at its 21st meeting (B.21) in October 2018. Consultations were held in Oslo on 4-5 April 2019 and in Ottawa on 29-30 August 2019. The pledging conference was in Paris on 24-25 October 2019. Johannes Linn was the global facilitator.

What happened in GCF-2?

The Board launched GCF-2 at its 33rd meeting (B.33) in July 2022. Mahmoud Mohieldin was the facilitator. Consultations took place on 1-2 December 2022 and 27-28 April 2023.

The pledging conference was held in Bonn, Germany, on 5 October 2023. On 24 November 2023, Board decision B.37/19 welcomed pledges from 25 contributors. They totalled USD 9.322 billion equivalent. That sum includes credit for early payment or encashment. The decision also thanked Germany for hosting the conference.

As of March 2025, 34 countries and one region had pledged USD 10.6 billion over four years, 2024-2027. The GCF-2 page also shows USD 10 billion as the amount confirmed. The resource mobilisation page still showed USD 10.6 billion on 9 October 2026.

Why is USD 9.3 billion a trap?

Two different rounds have a total near USD 9.3 billion. The IRM raised USD 9.3 billion in 2014. The Bonn conference of 2023 produced USD 9.322 billion. They are separate events, nine years apart.

What is GCF-3?

At B.45 on 2 July 2026, the Board decided to start the third replenishment from July 2026. GCF-3 covers 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2031.

The decision sets these steps.

• Meetings are open to all potential contributors and all Board members.
• The Secretariat is to prepare a draft updated contributions policy.
• It is also to prepare a separate policy for other sources.
• The Board is to conclude its consideration by the 47th meeting, in 2027.

The sources opened record no GCF-3 pledges.

Several kinds of body play a part in how projects reach developing countries. This card names them.

Who are the main players?

The GCF About page names two groups.

• National Designated Authorities (NDAs): official country focal points that guide and coordinate GCF activities at the national level.
• Accredited Entities: organisations accredited by the GCF to develop and implement climate projects.

The Durban decision asked for a no-objection procedure through national designated authorities. India’s NDA is the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

What is a Direct Access Entity?

A Direct Access Entity (DAE) is an accredited entity of the direct kind. The GCF news of 28 March 2026 describes DAEs as working at the regional or national level in developing countries. The GCF lists two direct types, Direct (National) and Direct (Regional).

So a DAE can be national or regional.

How do projects reach countries?

The dashboard access chart groups projects by modality. The chart is undated by GCF. These shares were read on 9 October 2026.

• International entities: 263 projects, 73 per cent.
• Direct (National): 57 projects, 16 per cent.
• Direct (Regional): 38 projects, 11 per cent.

What is readiness support?

The GCF calls its Readiness Programme “the largest climate-focused institutional strengthening and technical assistance programme in the world”. That is the GCF’s own claim.

The GCF India page, read on 9 October 2026, shows readiness support approved for India of USD 5.8 million. The page is undated.

This card covers the Country Platforms announced at COP30. It also gives two examples of funded work.

What are the new Country Platforms?

A GCF news item of 15 November 2025 comes from Belem, Brazil. It reports that 14 developing countries and regions announced plans to develop country or regional platforms. The item says the announcement was made at a ministerial event during COP30. It says the platforms are intended to be supported under the Readiness Programme.

• The 14: African Islands States Climate Commission (AISCC), Cambodia, Colombia, India, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Mongolia, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Rwanda, the Dominican Republic, Togo and South Africa.
• Already existing: the Brazil Country Platform and the Caribbean Regional Platform.
• Total: the news item states that this brings the number of platforms to 16.

The same news item says representatives of Brazil, Uganda and the V20 Group announced a Country Platform Hub.

What was the green schools project?

On 2 December 2023, at COP28, the GCF, the Global Partnership for Education and Save the Children launched BRACE. GCF Executive Director Mafalda Duarte called it the “proposed $70 million BRACE investment facility”. The countries named at launch are Cambodia, South Sudan and Tonga. So this lesson does not treat the full amount as spent.

What did the 44th Board meeting approve?

The Board met at the Songdo headquarters from 25 to 28 March 2026. It approved USD 960.3 million for 18 new projects. One was ASCENT-GREEN, a USD 250 million programme with the World Bank. It supports resilient energy access across 21 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.

The Board also chose host cities for regional offices. The headquarters will cover East, Southeast and South Asia.

India reaches the GCF through its National Designated Authority and through accredited entities. Two Indian institutions appear on the GCF’s own accredited-entity pages. They are examples. We did not check the full list of Indian entities.

Which Indian bodies are accredited?

Both are Direct (National) entities, according to the GCF pages. Each page gives its accreditation date twice, and the two panels differ by one day.

On 9 October 2026, the SIDBI page still showed the status “Accredited”. It also listed a term end date of 9 September 2026, which is before that day. The page’s status and dates do not reconcile. We could not tell whether SIDBI was renewed.

So this lesson says SIDBI was accredited in 2017. It does not call SIDBI currently accredited.

What do these entities do?

The India page lists two NABARD projects as under implementation.

• A line of credit for solar rooftop projects in commercial, industrial and residential housing sectors.
• Ground water recharge and solar micro irrigation in vulnerable tribal areas of Odisha.

The SIDBI page lists projects that include BEACON INDIA and the Avaana Sustainability Fund.

What is India’s total portfolio?

The GCF India page, read on 9 October 2026, shows 15 projects. The page is undated. GCF financing is USD 1.0 billion. Readiness support approved is USD 5.8 million. The NDA is the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

Is India also a Country Platform country?

Yes. India is on the list of 14 new platforms announced on 15 November 2025.

Why does the exam stem matter here?

A practice question below asks which Indian institution is an accredited Direct Access Entity. The live key is NABARD. SIDBI was also accredited, in 2017, and its page still shows “Accredited”. So two options fit the stem, and the explanation says so.

The GCF is one channel in a larger system of promises. This card follows those promises in date order. It ends with India’s stated view.

What was the USD 100 billion goal?

In 2009, developed countries committed to mobilise jointly USD 100 billion a year by 2020. The Copenhagen Accord set the goal in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation. The Cancun decision of 2010 repeated the goal. It said funds provided to developing countries may come from a wide variety of sources.

The OECD 2024 report says developed countries provided and mobilised USD 115.9 billion in 2022. That was above USD 100 billion. Public climate finance was USD 91.6 billion in 2022. Our own calculation puts that at about 79 per cent of the total. The same measure of public climate finance was USD 38 billion in 2013.

What does the Paris Agreement say about finance?

The Paris Agreement sets duties in Article 9.

• Article 9.1: developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to help developing countries.
• Article 9.2: other Parties are encouraged to provide support voluntarily.
• Article 9.3: developed country Parties “should continue to take the lead” in mobilising climate finance. The text notes the significant role of public funds.
• Article 9.8: the Convention’s financial mechanism, including its operating entities, serves the Agreement.

Article 9.8 links the GCF to Paris. The GCF is an operating entity of that mechanism. Decision 1/CP.21, paragraph 53, said the CMA shall set a new collective quantified goal before 2025. The goal starts from a floor of USD 100 billion per year.

What did COP29 decide in Baku?

COP29 was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. Its finance decision is 1/CMA.6, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). The CMA 6 session report records the decision as adopted. We read the paragraph wording from the draft NCQG text (L.22). We did not compare it with the final wording.

• Paragraph 7 of the draft: all actors are called on to work together. The aim is to scale up financing to developing countries. The level is at least USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035, from all public and private sources.
• Paragraph 8 of the draft: a goal of at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035. Developed country Parties take the lead. The money comes from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources.
• Paragraph 8(c) of the draft: it recognises the voluntary intention of Parties to count multilateral development bank outflows towards the goal. It also covers finance those banks mobilise.
• Paragraph 9 of the draft: developing countries are encouraged to contribute voluntarily.

So the USD 300 billion goal is not a public-finance floor. It is also not paid by developed countries alone. The draft says developed countries take the lead.

What is the Baku to Belem Roadmap?

The Roadmap is a report by the COP29 and COP30 Presidencies, dated November 2025. Its title is “Report on the Baku to Belem Roadmap to 1.3T”. It is about reaching the USD 1.3 trillion a year in the NCQG.

Part 1 of the report sets action fronts called the 5Rs. They are Replenishing, Rebalancing, Rechanneling, Revamping and Reshaping. Part 2 covers themes such as adaptation and loss and damage, energy, nature, agriculture and food, and just transitions.

The draft Mutirao text takes note of the Roadmap. It also welcomes the Presidencies’ efforts.

What did COP30 add?

The Global Mutirao is the COP30 text from Belem, where the seventh session of the CMA was scheduled for 10-21 November 2025. We read the draft text, FCCC/PA/CMA/2025/L.24. We did not find an adopted text. So everything below is the draft’s wording.

• Paragraph 51 of the draft: recalls an earlier decision. That decision pursues efforts to at least triple annual outflows from the operating entities of the financial mechanism. The base is the 2022 level, and the date is 2030 at the latest. The paragraph also names the Adaptation Fund, the LDCF and the SCCF.
• Paragraph 53 of the draft: reaffirms the doubling of adaptation finance by 2025. It calls for efforts to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035, in the context of decision 1/CMA.6.
• Paragraph 54 of the draft: a two-year work programme on climate finance, including Article 9.1.

What is India’s view?

A PIB release of 21 November 2024 reports that India expressed disappointment at the COP29 plenary in Baku. It was disappointed at a shift of focus from adequate climate finance to mitigation alone. India’s Parliament answer of 11 August 2025 says India expressed disappointment with the NCQG outcome. It calls the USD 300 billion goal substantially insufficient.

It cites needs of USD 5.1 to 6.8 trillion up to 2030, from the Standing Committee on Finance. That is USD 455 to 584 billion per year. India also objects to counting multilateral development bank flows. It says developed countries are mandated to provide and take the lead. India has submitted its views on the Roadmap, citing Article 9.1.

This card covers one UPSC question on the GCF, from 2015. It then lists seven traps taken from the earlier cards.

Which question was it?

How do the statements check out?

• Statement 1 holds on our reading. The GCF says it supports mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.
• Statement 2 does not hold on our reading. The Cancun decision shows UNFCCC Parties established the Fund. The sources opened name no founding role for UNEP, the OECD, the ADB or the World Bank.

Statement 2 is out, so options (b), (c) and (d) fall away by elimination. That leaves option (a).

What are the traps?

1. Founders. The GCF came from UNFCCC Parties, not from UNEP, the OECD, the ADB or the World Bank.
2. Three COPs. The idea is named in the Copenhagen Accord (COP15, 2009). The Fund is established at Cancun (COP16, 2010). The governing instrument is approved at Durban (COP17, 2011).
3. Headquarters. The GCF is in Songdo, South Korea. Bonn hosted the GCF-2 pledging conference. Bonn is not the GCF headquarters.
4. USD 9.3 billion. It appears for the IRM in 2014 and again for the Bonn conference in 2023.
5. 50:50. It is a target over time. The real split changes with the counting method.
6. Indian entities. NABARD (2015) and SIDBI (2017) were both accredited as Direct Access Entities. SIDBI’s listed term end date is 9 September 2026.
7. USD 300 billion. In the draft NCQG text (L.22), it is a goal with developed countries taking the lead, from public and private sources. It is not a public-finance floor.