UN Climate Summit paves the way for an ambitious and successful replenishment of the Green Climate Fund

Calls from UN Secretary-General António Guterres to double contributions to the Green Climate Fund were met by ambitious pledges from many countries, led by Sweden’s doubling of their contribution to USD 852 million. The new pledges made at the UN Climate Summit have raised the replenishment total beyond USD 7.4 billion, with more contributions expected at the pledging conference in Paris on 24-25 October.

GCF Executive Director Yannick Glemarec stated: “The Climate Summit reaffirmed the importance of the Green Climate Fund to win the race against climate change. We are grateful to all the countries which made ambitious new pledges, and to those who voiced their support. This is a vote of confidence in the Fund’s ability to deliver ambitious and transformative climate action.”

“The Secretary-General’s strong support for replenishment has been crucial to the successful outcome of the Climate Action Summit. The new climate finance resources announced this week as well as those already made will help GCF provide urgently needed support to the most vulnerable communities facing the climate crisis”, he added.

A number of countries made new financial commitments to GCF at the UN Climate Action Summit:

• Sweden announced a doubling of its contribution to SEK 8 billion (USD 852.5 million)
• Republic of Korea pledged a doubling of its contribution to USD 200 million
• The Netherlands committed to increase its contribution to EUR 120 million (USD 135.1 million)
• Spain announced a contribution of EUR 150 million (USD 168.9 million)
• Denmark announced a doubling of its contribution to DKK 800 million (USD 121 million) 
• Austria announced an increase in its contribution to EUR 30 million (USD 33.8 million)
• Monaco announced a contribution of EUR 3 million (USD 3.4 million)
• Iceland announced a doubling of its contribution to USD 2 million
• Slovenia announced a contribution of EUR 1 million (USD 1.1 million)
• Hungary announced a contribution of HUF 200 million (USD 0.7 million)
• Liechtenstein announced a contribution of CHF 50,000 (USD 50,000)

In addition, Luxembourg has announced an intention to make ambitious pledges with figures to be confirmed soon.

Germany, Norway, France and United Kingdom have already announced a doubling of their contributions. The pledges made ahead of the Climate Action Summit were as follows:

• Germany doubled its commitment to EUR 1.5 billion (USD 1.689 billion)
• Norway doubled its commitment to NOK 3,378.2 billion (USD 391.8 million)
• France doubled its commitment to EUR 1.548 billion (USD 1.743 billion)
• UK doubled its commitment to GBP 1.4 billion (USD 1.851 billion)
• Canada pledged to commit CAD 300 million (USD 225.5 million)

The Pledging Conference hosted by France will be held on 24-25 October in Paris.

Notes for editors

Pledges made in national currencies are converted into USD on the basis of reference exchange rates established for GCF’s first replenishment period.

The first formal GCF replenishment was launched during the 21st GCF Board meeting in October 2018. The process includes consultation meetings with potential contributors, developing countries, board members and interested stakeholders on the strategic directions of the Fund to respond to the urgency of climate action in developing countries. A pledging conference will take place on 24-25 October in Paris, where more countries are expected to announce their pledges to the Fund.

The new resources will help GCF continue its support for transformative climate projects in the developing countries. GCF has now allocated over USD 5.2 billion to 111 climate projects in 99 countries. In addition to project funding, the Fund has also approved USD 160 million for capacity building activities (known as readiness support) helping 126 developing countries identify and address their most pressing climate finance challenges.

Updated 25 September 2019 to reflect verified figures.