How can the Green Climate Fund initiate a paradigm shift?

The document argues that for the Green Climate Fund to trigger a paradigm shift, it must move from project-by-project funding to programmatic approaches, ensure strong country ownership, and provide clear incentives for ambition. It defines a paradigm shift as a fundamental move away from practices incompatible with climate challenges, such as transitioning from centralized fossil fuel energy systems to decentralized renewable energies. The authors emphasize that country ownership is not contrary to ambition but is a prerequisite for sustainability, suggesting that funding conditions could be improved for countries demonstrating higher levels of ambition within their capabilities.

• A paradigm shift is defined as a move away from practices incompatible with climate change; in mitigation, this specifically means transitioning from fossil fuel-based economies to systems like decentralized renewable energies rather than simply improving the efficiency of existing fossil fuel plants.
• To achieve its objectives, the GCF should transition from a small, project-by-project funding model toward more programmatic approaches that can cover entire sectors or national economies.
• Strong country ownership is presented as an essential prerequisite for a paradigm shift, as new structures must be embedded in a recipient country's own strategies to ensure long-term sustainability after GCF funding ends.
• The authors suggest a mechanism where the GCF provides more beneficial funding conditions and instruments to recipient countries that demonstrate higher levels of ambition in their proposals.
• The GCF's ability to initiate a paradigm shift depends on the provision of large financial resources from developed countries, specifically as a channel for the US$ 100 billion promised annually by 2020 for climate action in developing countries.
• The document identifies several barriers to transformation, including the existence of established structures and path dependencies, as well as the presence of cheap coal supplies which can hinder the market entry of low-carbon technologies.

APA

Harmeling, S., & Grießhaber, L. (2013). How can the Green Climate Fund initiate a paradigm shift? Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Policy-brief_GCF-paradigm-shift_LR1.pdf

Chicago

Harmeling, Sven, and Linde Grießhaber. How can the Green Climate Fund initiate a paradigm shift? Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2013. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Policy-brief_GCF-paradigm-shift_LR1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Harmeling |first1=Sven |last2=Grießhaber |first2=Linde |title=How can the Green Climate Fund initiate a paradigm shift? |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=2013 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Policy-brief_GCF-paradigm-shift_LR1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{harmeling2013how, author = {Harmeling, Sven and Grießhaber, Linde}, title = {{How can the Green Climate Fund initiate a paradigm shift?}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2013}, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Policy-brief_GCF-paradigm-shift_LR1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }