GCF: Don’t Gag Civil Society—Public Participation is Not a Check-Box Exercise

The Center for International Environmental Law criticizes the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for decreasing transparency and hindering civil society participation, specifically citing a proposed ethics policy that acts as a 'gag order' and the practice of holding crucial policy discussions in closed-door 'informal' meetings.

• The GCF Board has introduced a proposed Policy on Ethics and Conflict of Interest for active observers that the author characterizes as a 'gag order' because it prohibits observers from acting in ways that might "undermine public confidence and trust in the Fund’s governance," potentially preventing them from providing critical feedback.
• During the 17th Board Meeting (B.17), the GCF Board reduced transparency by conducting discussions on crucial policies in closed-door "informal" meetings that lacked webcasting or broader civil society participation.
• The GCF Board has restricted the timing and content of civil society interventions, including an instance at B.17 where an active CSO observer was not permitted to speak until after a decision on entity accreditation was made and was told what she could and could not say regarding publicly available information.
• Civil society observers provide essential value to the GCF by offering expertise and information from local communities and NGOs, which helps the Fund avoid backing projects that harm people's rights or the environment and manages the Fund's reputational risk.

APA

Lennon, E. (2017). GCF: Don’t Gag Civil Society—Public Participation is Not a Check-Box Exercise. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/gcf-dont-gag-civil-society-public-participation-not-check-box-exercise/

Chicago

Lennon, Erika. GCF: Don’t Gag Civil Society—Public Participation is Not a Check-Box Exercise. Center for International Environmental Law, 2017. https://www.ciel.org/gcf-dont-gag-civil-society-public-participation-not-check-box-exercise/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Lennon |first1=Erika |title=GCF: Don’t Gag Civil Society—Public Participation is Not a Check-Box Exercise |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=29 September 2017 |url=https://www.ciel.org/gcf-dont-gag-civil-society-public-participation-not-check-box-exercise/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{lennon2017gcf, author = {Lennon, Erika}, title = {{GCF: Don’t Gag Civil Society—Public Participation is Not a Check-Box Exercise}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ciel.org/gcf-dont-gag-civil-society-public-participation-not-check-box-exercise/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }