Eighteen months of negotiations have concluded with USD 3.9 billion in initial pledges for the ninth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund (GEF-9). The 71st GEF Council Meeting and Eighth GEF Assembly, respectively, focused on technical and administrative issues of the GEF partnership and on strategic ideas, thoughts, and visions for the international environmental finance architecture.

In his closing remarks, Interim GEF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairperson Claude Gascon said the meetings represented “not only a discussion about priorities, but a reminder of what is possible when the world comes together with shared purpose.” According to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary report of the meetings, these words “reflected a shared feeling among GEF members and participants following the conclusion of a busy and successful week of deliberations.”

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The GEF plays a catalytic role in the international environmental finance architecture by supporting a transformational change needed to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. “Designated as the financial mechanism for several multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), it connects aspirational global environmental targets with concrete actions on the ground directed toward those that need them most,” ENB notes.

GEF-9 encompasses a financing strategy, policy recommendations, and a resource allocation model that will guide the GEF’s work to the “final sprint toward 2030.” It also introduces structural reforms, making the GEF faster, simpler, and more accountable.

Among GEF-9’s strategic priorities, the ENB report highlights:

• Integrated Programs targeting systemic transformations through holistic and nexus approaches;
• Blended finance with an aspirational target of programming 25% of resources to mobilize private capital;
• Support for vulnerable countries, with the goal of directing 35% of resources to least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS), and 20% to Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs); and
• Whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches.

While some noted that GEF-9 resource mobilization has not fully met their expectations, many pointed to the 2026 Conferences of the Parties (COPs) on biodiversity, climate change, and desertification, among others, as such COPs “have historically attracted new financial pledges.”

Main messages from high-level roundtable discussions, organized during the GEF Assembly, which convened back-to-back with the GEF Council, included:

• Integration should be embedded in program design through a theory of change that fosters adaptive management, monitoring, and learning;
• Blended finance is not a silver bullet but a proven tool to mobilize private capital;
• Regional collaboration and nexus approaches are essential to address intertwined environmental challenges;
• Reforming harmful subsidies, integrating sustainability into fiscal policy, and aligning resource mobilization are key enablers of nature-positive outcomes;
• Community-led and IPLC-managed approaches deliver durable outcomes;
• Public capital fills private finance gaps by optimizing investment risk, addressing market failures, and creating enabling conditions for private investments; and
• Collective action is key to mobilize the private sector at scale.

The eighth GEF Assembly, the 71st meeting of the GEF Council, the 40th meetings of the Council of the LDC Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), and the sixth meeting of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) Council convened from 31 May to 5 June in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. A Civil Society Forum preceded these meetings on 3 June. [ENB Coverage of Eighth GEF Assembly and 71st Meeting of the GEF Council]