Capacity building key to accessing Green Climate Fund

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was established under article 11 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by the parties to the convention at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) held in Cancun in 2010. The objective of this fund is to help accelerate both climate change adaptation and mitigation projects in developing and least-developed countries. With the adoption of Paris Agreement, the role of GCF has become even more important in achieving the goal to contain global mean temperature increase well below 2.0 degrees C.

Although GCF was developed in 2010, it was not until November 2015, just before the highly anticipated 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21), that the first round of projects was approved by GCF Board. As of now, seventy-six (76) projects and programmes worth US$ 12.6 billion, including GCF's contribution of US$ 3.7 billion in the form of grant, guarantee, equity and loan, have been approved. Of the 76 projects and programmes, three projects and programmes, including two approved in the last meeting held in the last week of February 2018, are from Bangladesh. The access modality of all three Bangladeshi projects is through International Accredited Entities (AE), i.e., KfW, the World bank and UNDP. It is not surprising considering that two national AEs, i.e., Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) and Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), have only been accredited very recently and, on the other hand, the GCF portfolio shows that access modality of 75 per cent of the projects is by International AEs like the World Bank, ADB, JICA, AFDB etc. 

As we have now national AEs, it is imperative to build capacities of the AEs particularly due to the stringent approval process of GCF. The funding proposal, to be submitted to GCF Board, includes among other things, detailed baseline, vulnerability assessment, paradigm shift potential of the proposed project, economic analysis, mitigation potential, adaptation potential, results matrix and so on and so forth.

Often baseline study becomes complex considering the volume of work and necessity of funding to conduct the study. Organisations do not always have the capacity to assess climate vulnerability of the communities where the GCF projects would be implemented. Along with these, the proposal ought to be convincing enough to GCF Board in view of GCF's funding criteria while also being in line with country development goals.  It is essential to substantiate a very high degree of national ownership and country-driven approach in the proposal. Therefore, capacity development is needed for the AEs and other organisations, such as, executing agency and associated partner organisations.

It may be noted that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has provided ample opportunities to implement low carbon development projects in the least developed and developing countries. Over 8,000 CDM projects have been registered by UNFCCC of which more than 80 per cent belongs to Asia and the Pacific. Of the projects implemented in Asia and the Pacific, over 85 per cent have been from China and India, resulting in millions of USD carbon revenue inflow to these two countries. Many of these projects are still realising carbon revenue. However, as of now, Bangladesh, according to UNEP DTU database, has only 11 CDM projects. From my experience of being involved with CDM projects, which helped make the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15), held in Copenhagen, carbon neutral, there was lack of capacity among the project developers in writing project design document (PDD), developing the baseline, using appropriate methodology to substantiate emission reduction potential of a project etc. Although Bangladesh is one of the least GHG emitting countries in the world, it could have implemented more projects and realised benefits from international carbon credits.

Drawing lessons from CDM, particularly on capacity development aspects, it would be important to take appropriate measures by National Designated Authority (NDA) of Bangladesh, which is the Economic Relations Division (ERD), responsible for forwarding funding proposal to GCF Board, to help develop capacity of national AEs and other organisations to secure more GCF funding in projects related to adaptation and mitigation. Of course, IDCOL already has substantial experience in CDM projects and managing multilateral as well as bilateral funds from the World Bank, ADB, JICA, KfW and the like. Similarly, PKSF has the capacity to manage climate fund and implement adaptation projects. However, if the high expectations from GCF are to be realised, Bangladesh should have institutions in place that can use GCF resources effectively and efficiently. This is particularly essential on adaptation aspects, as Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries due to climate change. On the other hand, Bangladesh has international targets, for example -- GHG mitigation under Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), and national targets, such as energy efficiency and renewable energy goals. As such, Bangladesh can take the advantage of GCF funding to implement NDC and achieve national energy targets.

Shafiqul Alam is International Climate Protection Fellow at Ecologic Institute, Berlin, supported by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany.

[email protected]