Summary

Between 2-5 November 2015, the 11th meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board was held in Livingstone, Zambia. This meeting was a landmark for the GCF as for the first time the Board considered actual funding proposals to be approved and funded by the GCF.

To inform the Board on a number of critical decisions taking place in Livingstone, various civil society organizations mobilized themselves to submit recommendations ahead of the meeting. Carbon Market Watch, together with 27 organizations made a submission on the lessons learned from the CDM for the approval of GCF’s funding proposals, which discloses how the GCF can build on the shortcomings of the CDM in order to ensure that project/programmes supported through the GCF deliver positive impacts for people and their ecosystems. Furthermore, with over 120 organizations, Carbon Market Watch released a statement calling for the rejection of HSBC and Crédit Agricole – two major fossil fuel funders, which were considered to be accredited by the Fund at this meeting.

As expected, the discussion on the approval process of the first funding proposals took the spotlight over the other items on the agenda, and dragged late into the last night. Leading discussions revolved around the concern whether the proposals on the table really embody the Fund’s vision for transformational change rather than business as usual action. However, it was evident that the Fund was under the pressure to show that it was ready to approve the first finance before COP21 in Paris in December.

The meeting also included discussion on the initial monitoring and accountability framework for accredited entities, decision on the Fund’s strategic plan, status of initial resource mobilization process, and implementation of the readiness programme.

Key outcomes of the 11^th meeting include:

1. The Board approved all 8 funding proposals, with project-specific conditions and recommendations attached to the first 7 proposals (11/11). The first projects will be implemented in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and require a total funding of USD 168 million;
2. The Board adopted the monitoring and accountability framework for accredited entities and the interim policy on fees for public sector projects/programmes, which are to range between 7-10% (11/10);
3. The Board agreed to develop a strategic plan for the Fund, which is to be drafted by an  ad hoc group and considered at the 12^th meeting of the Board (11/03);
4. The Board noted the progress of resource mobilization – so far USD 5.83 billion have been signed out of USD 10.2 billion pledged – and  urged contributing countries to confirm their pledges, ideally by COP21 (11/05);
5. The Board approved additional USD 14 million for readiness support (11/04).
6. No new entities were accredited due to the time constraint.

Delay of the decision on accrediting new entities raised a lot of disappointment from the institutions awaiting their accreditation at this meeting. As the Board ran out of time, this item, along with the decision on information disclosure policy will be picked up at the 12^th meeting of the Board next year.

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