Following its first call for projects in October 2024, the Global Framework for Chemicals (GFC) Fund has launched a second call for applications. The Fund will prioritize proposals that strengthen institutional capacities, target high-impact sectors, and have a positive impact for people and the environment.
The second round of applications is open from 30 September 2025 to 15 December 2025. Following review by the GFC Fund Executive Board under a streamlined two-stage process, a selection of applications will be shortlisted and invited to submit a full project proposal by the middle of June 2026. Applicants will be informed of the final funding decisions in October 2026.
Governments are invited to apply for funding. Civil society networks can also apply, subject to an agreement with the respective government.
Selected projects will receive between USD 300,000 and USD 800,000 in grants for up to three years. Designed for developing countries and for countries with economies in transition (EITs), the Fund aims to help strengthen chemical laws, improve safety systems, and promote safer alternatives where support is most urgently needed.
Four regional projects benefiting 11 countries in Africa and Latin America were approved earlier this year under the first call for projects, with implementation expected to begin before the end of 2025. The projects focus on:
- Strengthening industrial chemicals management through regional cooperation, including action plans, legislation, information technology (IT) systems, and capacity building in Colombia and Peru;
- Strengthening capacities to implement the globally harmonized system of classification and labeling of chemicals in El Salvador and Honduras;
- Highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs), including analysis, regulation, and sustainable alternatives in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Senegal; and
- Building capacity for replacing HHPs with agroecology in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.
The fifth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5) adopted the GFC in 2023, following years of negotiations. It also set up a dedicated trust fund to support low-income countries (LICs) and middle-income countries (MICs), including small island developing States (SIDS), in addressing chemicals, including products and waste, in line with international standards. The GFC Secretariat is hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). [GFC Fund] [Call for Applications] [UNEP Press Release]