The Green Climate Fund (GCF or Fund) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) both operate within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and share the common goal of channelling finance to activities that mitigate climate change while promoting sustainable development. The topic of linking the CDM and the Fund was explicitly discussed during a meeting of the UNFCCC’s Subsidiary Bodies for Implementation (SBI 44), and the discussions were taken up again in Marrakech during the 12th Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12).1 During the first meeting, the co-chair of the GCF Board emphasised that the Fund aims to complement other financing initiatives, including the CDM.2 Leveraging the synergies that exist between the GCF and the CDM is a potential opportunity to rapidly scale up mitigation action on the African continent and beyond.

Authors: Hilda Galt, Dario Brescia and Sebastian Mayr