Towards a Long-Term Vision on Complementarity

The GCF and GEF have established a Long-Term Vision (LTV) to move beyond their Pilot Coordinated Engagement (launched in 2018) toward a structured partnership. The LTV focuses on three pillars: collaborative programming for major initiatives (such as the Great Green Wall and Amazon initiatives), sharing knowledge and methodologies to maximize climate impact, and improving joint communication. The funds aim to leverage their unique strengths—GEF's focus on upstream enabling environments and multi-convention synergies, and GCF's ability to mobilize large-scale blended finance for climate-specific benefits—to reduce duplication and streamline support for developing countries.

• The GCF and GEF have distinct comparative advantages: the GEF focuses on 'upstream on the enabling environment' and 'synergistic results in the areas of climate, biodiversity, land degradation and chemicals', while the GCF focuses on 'maximizing climate benefits' and the 'Ability to mobilize larger scale blended finance for mitigation and adaptation'.
• The Pilot Coordinated Engagement has already produced concrete results in specific regions, including climate-smart agriculture in Lao PDR, climate resilient urban development in Pacific SIDS (Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu), and a low carbon transport project in Mauritius.
• The LTV identifies several major flagship initiatives for coordinated support, including the Great Green Wall (GGW), Amazon landscape initiatives, SFM-REDD+, and collaborations focused on SIDS, Asia, and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
• To improve efficiency, the funds will develop a list of prioritized activities to minimize duplication; for example, in National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), the GCF may focus on 'readiness and NAP preparations' while the GEF LDCF focuses on 'NAP implementation'.
• The funds have identified four primary models for coordination: scaling up GEF projects with GCF resources, piloting with GEF-7 for future GCF scaling, parallel financing, and using GCF readiness support to inform GEF projects.
• The implementation of the LTV will be managed through a new steering committee, annual joint progress reports to the GCF board and GEF Council starting in 2021, and a commissioned study on processes and policies to further support coherence.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2021). Towards a Long-Term Vision on Complementarity. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gcf-gef-complementarity-vision.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Towards a Long-Term Vision on Complementarity. 2021. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gcf-gef-complementarity-vision.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Towards a Long-Term Vision on Complementarity |date=3 May 2021 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gcf-gef-complementarity-vision.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2021towards, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Towards a Long-Term Vision on Complementarity}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2021}, month = may, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gcf-gef-complementarity-vision.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }