5 October 2012: The UNFCCC Secretariat has published the submission from Cyprus and the European Commission containing their views and recommendations on elements that should be taken into account in developing guidance to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) (FCCC/SBI/2012/MISC.10).

The submission was made in response to the request by the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17), that parties should submit annually to the Secretariat, their views and recommendations on the elements to be taken into account in developing guidance to the GEF. The Secretariat received one submission, from Cyprus and the European Commission on behalf of the EU and its member States. This submission is also supported by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia.

In the submission, the EU highlights ways in which the GEF has been responding to the guidance it has received from the COP, and concludes that the annual report of the GEF to COP 18 shows that the GEF is on track in responding to the most recent guidance in the various areas covered by the report. The EU also highlights that because of the establishment of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as the other operating entity of the Convention’s financial mechanism and the tasks of the Standing Committee, there is a need to reform the system for dealing with the reporting from, and guidance to, the operating entities of the financial mechanism. [Views and Recommendations from Parties on Elements to be taken into Account in Developing Guidance to the Global Environment Facility]