23 September 2019: During the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York, US, public and private sector actors pledged new financial contributions to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), raising the GCF’s replenishment total beyond USD 7.4 billion.
Serving as an operating entity of the UNFCCC financial mechanism, the GCF aims to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation activities in developing countries.
At the Summit, panels emphasized the need to engage all partners to protect, restore and fund climate solutions. UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the need to support the most vulnerable communities facing the climate crisis. His calls to double contributions to the GCF were met by ambitious pledges from many countries.
Financial commitments to the Fund made ahead of and during the Climate Action Summit include:
- USD 1.851 billion from the UK;
- USD 1.743 billion from France;
- USD 1.689 billion from Germany;
- USD 852.5 million from Sweden;
- USD 391.8 million from Norway;
- USD 225.5 million from Canada;
- USD 200 million from the Republic of Korea;
- USD 168.9 million from Spain;
- USD 135.1 million from the Netherlands;
- USD 33.8 million from Austria;
- USD 3.4 million from Monaco;
- USD 2 million from Iceland;
- USD 1.1 million from Slovenia; and
- USD 50,000 from Liechtenstein.
Denmark, Luxembourg and Hungary have announced an intention to make ambitious pledges, and additional contributions to the GCF are expected to result from a pledging conference from 24-25 October in Paris, France. [GCF Press Release] [Climate Action Summit Press Release] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Climate Action Summit]