Green Climate Fund to start funding projects in 2015

By Sophie Yeo in Lima

The UN’s green bank will start converting its $9.7 billion purse into real projects in by June 2015, it announced today.

The Green Climate Fund, which will channel much of the $100 billion in climate finance that rich countries have promised to deliver every year from 2020, will start considering proposals for projects within the next sixth months.

The bank has agreed to split its funding equally between emissions reduction and adaptation projects, meaning that they money will help the world’s poorest countries turn to renewable energy and prepare for the worst impacts of climate change.

Tao Wang, director of mitigation and adaptation at the Green Climate Fund, said that the board wanted to accredit the bodies who would be able to put forward by their first meeting in March next year, so that they could start to develop their proposals.

“By June, we aim to have a number of funding proposals that will be submitted and ready for consideration,” he said, speaking at a side event at the UN climate talks in Lima today.

“The Fund is fast moving into operation and next year will be a year of delivery.”