The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board has approved USD 1 billion-worth of climate adaptation and mitigation projects, including a project that will empower Philippine green entrepreneurs to promote climate-resilient development during its 39th Board Meeting in Incheon, Korea held from July 13 to 18, 2024.

The GCF is the largest global fund created to support climate change mitigation and adaptation projects and programs in developing countries.

Department of Finance (DOF) Chief-of-Staff and Undersecretary Maria Luwalhati Dorotan Tiuseco serves as the GCF Alternate Board Member (ABM) under the Asia-Pacific Group and represented the Philippine delegation during the meeting.

A total of 17 funding proposals for adaptation and mitigation projects, along with six new accredited entities, were approved by the Board covering sectors such as coastal resilience, sustainable agricultural systems, ecosystem restoration, and climate technologies.

Among the approved projects was the Collaborative Research and Development Business (R&DB) Programme for Promoting the Innovation of Climate Technopreneurship, which aims to facilitate technological transfer and improve the local ecosystem for climate technology by empowering local entrepreneurs in the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Vietnam.

The Programme worth USD 221.215 million will be divided among the recipient countries, allowing Philippine green entrepreneurs to leverage global technological expertise, thus accelerating climate-resilient development in the country.

USD 104.471 million of the total cost of the Programme will be financed by GCF through grants and equity, while the remaining USD 116.744 million will come from the co-financer’s contributions.

This newly approved funding brings the GCF’s total grant to the Philippines to USD 137.7 million for nine projects.

In addition, the Philippines is currently implementing four readiness activities with the GCF.

The Readiness and Preparatory Support Program (RPSP) 1 builds the capacity of DOF as the National Designated Authority (NDA) through the development of a monitoring, reporting and verification framework, country portfolio analysis, GCF Philippines website, launch of training modules, project development training, and conduct of national stakeholder conference.

RPSP 2, on the other hand, aims to strengthen the capacities of the Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) as Direct Access Entities (DAE) in developing high quality project concept notes.

The Climate Resilient Recovery Readiness Support aims to assist various government agencies in integrating climate-resilient strategies to develop paradigm-shifting projects.

Finally, the Agriculture Sector Readiness promotes climate finance mechanisms and implements Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture priorities in Southeast Asia through knowledge exchange.

During the meetings, Undersecretary Dorotan Tiuseco also expressed support for the mainstreaming approach of the REDD+ results-based payments, which will allow to integrate the funding modality into the regular project and program activity cycle of the Fund.

REDD+ is a process moderated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that supports countries’ efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

“REDD+ Results Based Payment would help translate existing REDD+ strategies of developing countries into a financial incentive mechanism that could support the implementation of the Philippines’ Nationally Determined Contributions [NDCs],” she said.

As the NDA of the GCF in the Philippines, the DOF also met with the GCF Asia Pacific Regional Team Secretariat at the sidelines of the Board Meetings to discuss acceleration of the country’s portfolio with GCF through the development of a steady pipeline of priority projects with an indicative total cost of USD 306.29 million for 4 projects, and next steps to unlock the USD 10 million Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme under the GCF.

The Readiness Programme will help strengthen the institutional capacities of the NDA/focal points, direct access entities and implementing agencies of GCF projects in the country to effectively engage with the Fund.
The DOF’s active involvement in the GCF Board and the recent success in securing the Philippines’ hosting of the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) Board, along with its championing of climate finance initiatives in the country, highlights DOF’s leadership in mobilizing climate finance.