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Seven new project agreements were signed during the Green Climate Fund’s 41st Board meeting (B.41), which took place from February 17 to 20, 2025.
At the Fund’s first Board meeting of the year, the Board approved $686.8 million ($1.5 billion with co-financing) in GCF investment for 11 new projects in 42 countries. This brings the GCF portfolio to 297 projects in 133 countries, with a total GCF funding amount of $16.6 billion and $62.7 billion with co-financing.
Of the 11 projects, agreements for five projects were immediately signed between GCF and its Accredited Entity (AE) partners at a signing ceremony on February 20, with the sixth signed by the AE remotely earlier in the day. The ceremony also included the signing for a project approved at the 40th Board meeting last October.
GCF has reportedly been working to speed up its processes to deliver climate projects to communities more efficiently and effectively as part of its transformational agenda to increase the Fund’s efficiency and impact. This includes expediting the process for the negotiation and signing of the project agreement or Funded Activity Agreement (FAA), which must be signed by GCF and the Accredited Entity (AE) for the project to begin implementation.
The projects set for implementation include GCF’s first single-country project in Serbia, climate-resilient agriculture projects in Mali and Kenya, a multi-country project targeting food loss in Africa, a tuna adaptation project in the Pacific, and a debt-for-climate conversion project in Barbados.
In addition, three new projects received their first disbursement. Projects in Kenya and Serbia and a multi-country project in Africa (RE-GAIN) were rapidly turned around, from board approval to the signing of project agreements to disbursement, in about a week.
- FP255: Transforming Livelihoods through Climate Resilient, Low Carbon, Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in the Lake Region Economic Bloc, Kenya with Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
This project aims to promote climate-resilient, low-carbon, environmentally sustainable, and financially viable agricultural value chains by expediting the transfer of technology, knowledge, assets, and services.
It emphasises empowering agri-food cooperatives as pivotal agents of rural transformation. Activities will focus on enabling local government support for adaptation and mitigation, investing in community-led, sustainable agricultural landscape management and restoration, increasing smallholder farmers’ resilience, and improving their market access.
2. FP256: Intensification of Agriculture and Agroforestry Techniques (IAAT) for Climate Resilient Food and Nutrition Security: Tombouctou, Gao, Mopti, Koulikoro and Segou regions of Mali with Save the Children Australia
The project’s objective is to improve the food, nutrition and water security of smallholder farmers in five highly climate-vulnerable regions of Mali. It will focus on increased access to and use of inclusive climate-resilient production practices and technologies in agricultural and agroforestry systems.
The project will increase smallholder farmers’ awareness of climate risks and their capacity to adopt Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) techniques, create sustainable markets for CSA and agroforestry products and strengthen the institutional capacities of government entities and communities at local, regional and national levels.
3. FP257: RE-GAIN: Scaling solutions for food loss in Africa with AGRA
RE-GAIN aims to strengthen smallholder farmers’ climate resilience and adaptive capacity by promoting the wide-scale adoption of food loss reduction solutions (FL-RS). This involves engaging both the demand and supply sides, emphasising market creation, enhancement, and active participation from the private sector.
Key activities will include increasing the demand for and encouraging the adoption of FL-RS by farmers in seven countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia), enhancing the supply and affordability of FL-RS, and fostering an enabling environment for its large-scale adoption.
4. FP259: Adapting tuna-dependent Pacific Island communities and economies to climate change with Conservation International Foundation
This project will build resilience in tuna-dependent economies and communities by addressing food insecurity and economic risks caused by climate change. It will achieve this by enhancing access to tuna for coastal and urban communities, strengthening national fisheries systems, and improving forecasting to manage tuna redistribution effectively.
Key activities will include technical support for Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) deployment, fisher training, post-harvest improvement; policy development, improved handling, and market opportunities; and using science-based forecasts and projections to reduce uncertainty in climate change-driven tuna redistribution.
5. FP260: Enhancing the resilience of Serbian forests to ensure energy security of the most vulnerable while contributing to their livelihoods and carbon sequestration (FOREST Invest) with FAO
This project will promote sustainable, climate-adaptive forestry by fostering public-private collaboration, strengthening forest governance, and supporting vulnerable communities. Climate-sensitive investments will enhance forest ecosystems, bolster energy security, and reduce carbon emissions, enabling Serbia to achieve its adaptation and mitigation goals while ensuring low-carbon development and resilient livelihoods. It will also facilitate private sector engagement and finance in adaptation and mitigation investments.
6. FP251: Barbados Climate Resilient South Coast Water Reclamation Project (SCWRP) with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
This project aims to increase Barbados’ water resilience to climate change. Its focus is on increasing water security, food sovereignty, and improving environmental conditions, particularly those of small-scale farmers and residents. Critical infrastructure, such as the South Coast Water Treatment Plant, will be upgraded to efficiently deliver reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge.
The project introduces a novel financing approach through a “Debt-for-Climate Conversion” or debt swap, which will create fiscal space and generate savings over time, allowing Barbados to invest in climate-resilient infrastructure.
7. SAP049: Sustainable Communities for Climate Action in the Yucatán Peninsula (ACCIÓN) with Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza A.C. (FMCN)
The project aims to increase the climate resilience of vulnerable communities, ecosystems, and productive systems in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. It will support locally led Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) interventions that enhance biodiversity, reduce climate vulnerability, and sustain essential ecosystem services.
Some key activities include financing 10 sub-projects to conserve, restore, and improve productive practices to increase communities’ adaptive capacities in coastal and marine landscapes, mobilising financing to scale up community-level activities, and knowledge sharing and enhanced coordination among local stakeholders, national agencies, and NGOs.
