INSIDER: The Green Climate Fund’s Proposed Approach to Costs: Not Fit for Adaptation

The World Resources Institute argues that a proposed costing approach by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board is unsuitable for climate adaptation because it creates an artificial and impractical distinction between 'adaptation' and 'development' activities.

• The GCF Board is considering a proposal that requires project proponents to separate 'climate' components from 'development' components to determine funding. This involves creating a 'baseline project'—a hypothetical version of the project in a world without climate change—and subtracting its cost from the proposed project's cost to calculate the 'incremental cost' that the GCF would cover.
• The proposed approach is criticized for oversimplifying the relationship between adaptation and development. In many developing countries, these two are inseparable; for example, infrastructure like piped water systems may serve both long-standing development needs and climate resilience goals. The proposal risks categorizing such essential activities as 'baseline' development, leaving them unfunded for countries with high sovereign debt or limited financial access.
• The concept of a 'zero cost baseline'—where a project would be entirely unnecessary without climate change—is viewed as unrealistic. Most climate-related investments, such as early-warning systems for cyclones in the Caribbean and Pacific or wildfires in Indonesia, would still be necessary regardless of climate change, although climate change increases their urgency.
• The proposal is criticized for introducing opacity and arbitrariness because it grants the GCF Board discretion to cover costs beyond the incremental amount without providing clear guidance or transparent rules on how those decisions are made.

APA

World Resources Institute (2019). INSIDER: The Green Climate Fund’s Proposed Approach to Costs: Not Fit for Adaptation. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-green-climate-funds-proposed-approach-costs-not-fit-adaptation

Chicago

World Resources Institute. INSIDER: The Green Climate Fund’s Proposed Approach to Costs: Not Fit for Adaptation. 2019. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-green-climate-funds-proposed-approach-costs-not-fit-adaptation.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=World Resources Institute |title=INSIDER: The Green Climate Fund’s Proposed Approach to Costs: Not Fit for Adaptation |date=5 July 2019 |url=https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-green-climate-funds-proposed-approach-costs-not-fit-adaptation |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{worldresourcesinstitute2019insider, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{INSIDER: The Green Climate Fund’s Proposed Approach to Costs: Not Fit for Adaptation}}, publisher = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-green-climate-funds-proposed-approach-costs-not-fit-adaptation}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }