In the last years, the Government of Uruguay (GoU) continuously increased key stakeholders’ capacities and capabilities to engage with the GCF, with a Country Programme endorsed by the Secretariat in 2021, and advanced towards direct access, with Corporación Nacional para el Desarrollo (CND) achieving Stage II of the accreditation process in 2021. This has allowed to develop a country-driven projects pipeline to the GCF with a strong science basis and submit two project concept notes. 

However, the National Designated Authority (NDA) and CND have identified barriers that are slowing down Uruguay’s potential to access GCF funding. Uruguay’s institutions still have limited technical capacities to comply with standards from innovative finance mechanisms such as GCF. Stakeholders at the territorial level (such as subnational governments) and from productive sectors (such as the infrastructure and construction sector) are not sufficiently engaged in the climate agenda and in the implementation of the National Climate Change Policy (PNCC).  Also, gaps in the robustness of the baseline of projects in Uruguay’s pipeline to GCF have been detected, which may undermine or delay access to implementation funding. 

The goal of the current Readiness request is to catalyze Uruguay’s access to climate finance, in particular GCF funding, towards achieving low-emission, climateresilient pathways in the framework of the PNCC, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), National Adaptation Plan (NAPs) and Long Term lowemissions development and climate resilient Strategy (LTS) through: (i) support to the accreditation of CND, (ii) enhanced technical capacities among (potential) executing entities, (iii) developed strategic frameworks at the territorial/sectorial level, and (iv) improved technical robustness of two Concept Notes prioritized in the Country Programme.