The Green Climate Fund (GCF) board approved $1 billion worth of climate adaptation and mitigation projects, including a project that will empower entrepreneurs to promote climate-resilient development.
During its 39th Board Meeting in Incheon, Korea, from July 13 to 18, the GCF approved 17 funding proposals and six new accredited entities covering sectors such as coastal resilience, sustainable agricultural systems, ecosystem restoration, and climate technologies.
Department of Finance (DOF) Chief-of-Staff and Undersecretary Maria Luwalhati Dorotan Tiuseco, who also serves as the GCF Alternate Board Member (ABM) under the Asia-Pacific Group, represented the Philippines during the meeting.
The GCF is the largest global fund created to support climate change mitigation and adaptation projects and programs in developing countries.
Among the approved projects was the Collaborative Research and Development Business (R&DB) Programme for Promoting the Innovation of Climate Technopreneurship which aims to facilitate technology and improve the local ecosystem for climate technology by empowering local entrepreneurs in the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Vietnam.
This $221.215 million project will be divided among the recipient countries, allowing Philippine green entrepreneurs to leverage global technological expertise.
The $104.471 million total cost of the project will be financed by GCF through grants and equity, while the remaining $116.744 million will come from the co-financier’s contributions.
This newly approved funding brings the GCF’s total grant to the Philippines to $137.7 million for nine projects.
In addition, the country is currently implementing four readiness activities with the GCF.
The Readiness and Preparatory Support Program (RPSP) 1 builds DOF’s capacity as the National Designated Authority (NDA) through the development of a monitoring, reporting, and verification framework, country portfolio analysis, GCF Philippines website, launch of training modules, project development training, and conduct of a national stakeholder conference.
RPSP 2, on the other hand, aims to strengthen the capacities of the Landbank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines as direct access entities in developing high-quality project concept notes.
The Climate Resilient Recovery Readiness Support aims to assist various government agencies in integrating climate-resilient strategies to develop paradigm-shifting projects.
Lastly, the Agriculture Sector Readiness promotes climate finance mechanisms and implements Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture priorities in Southeast Asia through knowledge exchange.
During the meetings, Tiuseco expressed support for the mainstreaming approach of the REDD+ results-based payments, which will allow the integration of funding modality into the regular project and program activity cycle of the fund.
REDD+ is a process moderated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chang that supports countries' efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
“REDD+ Results Based Payment would help translate existing REDD+ strategies of developing countries into a financial incentive mechanism that could support the implementation of the Philippines’ Nationally Determined Contributions [NDCs],” she said.
As the NDA of the GCF in the Philippines, the DOF also met with the GCF Asia Pacific Regional Team Secretariat at the sidelines of the board meetings to discuss the acceleration of the country’s portfolio with GCF through the development of a steady pipeline of priority projects with an indicative total cost of $306.29 million for four projects, and next steps to unlock the $10 million Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme under the GCF.
The Readiness Programme will help strengthen the institutional capacities of the NDA/focal points, direct access entities, and implementing agencies of GCF projects in the country to effectively engage with the Fund.
The DOF’s active involvement in the GCF Board and the recent success in securing the Philippines’ hosting of the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) Board, along with its championing of climate finance initiatives in the country, highlights DOF’s leadership in mobilizing climate finance.