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The GCF Secretariat's 2024 work programme focuses on three priorities: enhancing country ownership and access, delivering impact and results, and focusing on people and performance. The plan includes scaling up direct access entities (DAEs), improving the speed of funding proposals, and implementing a new multi-year budgeting approach. The proposed total administrative budget for 2024, including the Board, Secretariat, Trustee, and independent units, is USD 125.682 million.

The guidelines establish a framework for increasing national ownership of GCF activities, emphasizing the central role of National Designated Authorities (NDAs) in aligning climate projects with national priorities. It outlines the use of country programs and structured dialogues to ensure that funding is consistent with national strategies like NDCs and NAPAs. The document also details the integration of national engagement across GCF operational modalities, including the Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme, the accreditation process, and the 'no-objection' procedure, while stressing the need for inclusive, continuous consultation with diverse stakeholders throughout the project cycle.

The document outlines the GCF's investment criteria indicators, which serve as guidance for Accredited Entities, the Technical Advisory Panel, and the Board. These indicators are not binary filters for approval but tools to describe how proposals meet investment criteria while considering national circumstances. Key criteria include impact potential (mitigation and adaptation), paradigm shift potential, sustainable development potential, beneficiary needs, national ownership, and efficiency and effectiveness.

The GCF's private sector strategy aims to mobilize private investment for climate action in developing countries, particularly for the most vulnerable, including LDCs, SIDS, and African states. The strategy is organized around four pillars: promoting a conducive investment environment, accelerating innovation in business models and technology, derisking market-creating investments, and strengthening national and regional financial institutions. To implement this, the GCF is introducing the Project-Specific Evaluation Approach (PSEA) to improve access for non-accredited private entities and is expanding its use of blended finance, including guarantees, equity, and insurance products. The fund also focuses on helping countries translate their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) into bankable investment plans while mitigating currency risks and avoiding increases in sovereign debt.

The document outlines a comprehensive investment framework for the Green Climate Fund, detailing six primary investment criteria: impact potential, paradigm shift potential, sustainable development potential, needs of the beneficiaries, country ownership, and efficiency and effectiveness. For each criterion, it specifies activity-specific sub-criteria and indicative assessment factors, including quantitative indicators for mitigation (such as tCO2eq reduced) and adaptation (such as number of beneficiaries). The framework emphasizes the need for proposals to demonstrate climate resilience, gender equality, and the ability to catalyze further investment or replicate successful models across different regions and sectors.

The document outlines a detailed framework for Accredited Entities to develop funding proposals for the Green Climate Fund. It specifies the sub-criteria and indicative assessment factors across six main investment criteria: Impact Potential, Paradigm Shift Potential, Sustainable Development Potential, Recipient Needs, National Ownership, and Efficiency and Effectiveness. These factors include quantitative metrics, such as tonnes of CO2 equivalent reduced and the number of beneficiaries, as well as qualitative assessments regarding innovation, gender equality, and institutional capacity.

The document defines a seven-stage cycle for GCF funding: (I) Country and accredited entity programmes, (II) Generation of funding proposals, (III) Voluntary concept notes, (IV) Full funding proposal submission, (V) Secretariat and technical assessment, (VI) Board decision, and (VII) Legal arrangements. It specifies the roles of National Designated Authorities (NDAs), Accredited Entities (AEs), the Secretariat, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP), and the Board in ensuring alignment with national priorities and GCF policies.

The document outlines the implementation goals and specific indicators for the Green Climate Fund's (GCF) investment criteria. These indicators are designed to provide transparency and consistency in funding proposals without serving as binary pass/fail tests. The criteria cover six main areas: impact potential (mitigation and adaptation), paradigm shift potential, sustainable development potential (co-benefits), recipient needs, national ownership, and efficiency and effectiveness.

The briefing argues that the COVID-19 crisis exposed systemic fragilities and provides an opportunity to build resilience against climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequality. It outlines ten priority options, including the adoption of green economy principles, the use of 'Green Deals', the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, and the implementation of gender-responsive recovery plans. The authors emphasize that recovery spending must align with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, particularly in the global South where public debt may limit fiscal space.

In 2025, the BRICS nations experienced their largest power capacity expansion on record, characterized by a 'split transition' where both fossil fuels and renewables reached historic highs. While 125 GW of new coal, oil, and gas capacity was added, solar and wind additions totaled 497 GW. This growth was heavily concentrated in China and India, where record renewable deployment began to reduce coal-fired generation despite continued coal capacity expansion. In contrast, other BRICS members like Russia and Iran remain overwhelmingly fossil-based, while Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, and the UAE show varying degrees of renewable growth and fossil fuel reliance.

The Climate Change Act establishes a regulatory framework for decarbonisation in South Africa's extractives sector, mandating sector-specific emissions targets, carbon budgets, and reporting. While the mining industry is vital to the economy, it is a major GHG contributor, with 85% of emissions linked to the coal value chain. The report highlights challenges such as enforcement gaps, resource limitations for monitoring, and the high capital cost of transitioning. It emphasizes that compliance is a strategic necessity for maintaining export market access, particularly regarding EU CBAM requirements. The Green Transport Strategy (2017-2050) is identified as a key tool for reducing logistics emissions by shifting from road to rail. A case study of Anglo American illustrates effective adaptation through green hydrogen trucks and internal carbon pricing. Successful implementation requires collaboration between government, mining companies, investors, and civil society to ensure a just transition.

Global Witness calls for CBD COP16 to transition the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) into actionable plans. The organization advocates for the protection and participation of land and environmental defenders, the implementation of mandatory regulations to end harmful financial flows driving deforestation, and the establishment of responsible mining standards and 'no-go zones' in biodiversity hotspots to ensure the energy transition does not undermine nature.

Global Witness critiques COP29 as a 'playground for fossil fuel lobbyists,' noting that the summit failed to mention a transition away from oil and gas and provided insufficient climate finance for developing nations. The organization highlights systemic flaws, including the hosting of summits in petrostates and the repression of civil society in Azerbaijan, while calling for structural reforms to prioritize vulnerable communities over polluting industries.

The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) is a UK-funded global programme designed to bridge the gap between available climate finance and promising projects by improving their bankability. In South Africa, the programme is delivered by the National Business Initiative and GreenCape, selecting 13 businesses from 120 applicants to receive capacity building in low-carbon technologies, climate mitigation, and blended finance to support the country's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The document highlights the funding gap for green small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa, noting that while the country requires significant annual investment to meet net zero and NDC goals, there is a low risk appetite for early-stage funding. It presents the FNF GreenPitch Challenge as a mechanism to source investment pipelines and support SMME investment readiness. As a specific example, it profiles BioAge, a 2023 pre-growth winner and agri-biotech startup producing the organic fertilizer Nitro-Gro, which aligns with sustainable agriculture market opportunities to improve soil health and crop resilience.

The document highlights a gap in South Africa's climate finance landscape, where a low risk appetite for early-stage green SMMEs coincides with a lack of investment-ready pipelines. It presents the FNF GreenPitch Challenge as a mechanism to address this by sourcing pipelines and supporting SMME investment readiness. The case of STROOM, a women-owned electric cargo bike enterprise, illustrates the potential for micro-mobility to reduce operational costs by over 80% and create jobs in township and rural markets.

The document outlines the increasing likelihood of exceeding the 1.5°C warming threshold and the resulting interest in 'emergency' options like solar radiation modification (SRM) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR). It highlights a critical lack of formal international and national governance for SRM, noting a specific instance in Mexico where a private US company conducted unauthorized aerosol experiments. The text details efforts by IAI, CEPAL, and C2G to raise awareness and build regional governance frameworks in Latin America and the Caribbean to manage these climate interventions.

The report assesses the current state of electricity generation, transmission, and consumption across Africa, highlighting a 'double burden' of climate and transition risk. It finds that while renewable energy potential is high, investment is heavily skewed toward generation and concentrated in a few countries, with significant data gaps hindering effective policy. The analysis of Global Production Networks (GPNs) reveals a heavy dependence on imported technology, particularly from China, and identifies specific challenges and opportunities for localising solar and wind value chains. Employment data is noted as inconsistent, though solar PV dominates the current renewable energy job landscape.

The report traces the history of international climate policy, highlighting the shift from the 'top-down' prescriptive approach of the Kyoto Protocol to the 'bottom-up' voluntary system of the Paris Agreement. It examines the central role of the 'common but differentiated responsibilities' (CBDR) principle and the challenges of ensuring the participation of major emitters while maintaining equity for developing nations. The text concludes that while the regime has grown in complexity and universality, current collective emission reduction promises remain insufficient to limit global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C.

The IISD Energy Program provides practical guidance and research to help governments transition to low-carbon economies, reform fossil fuel subsidies, and implement international climate commitments. The program focuses on quantifying the economic impacts of electricity systems and promoting renewable energy, specifically noting that fossil fuel subsidies in Middle Eastern and African countries could fund the region's renewable energy targets through 2020.