Page 10 - Respond 2020 Magazine

RESPOND
THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY
The Global Environment Facility was
established to help tackle our planet’s most
pressing environmental problems. The GEF
has provided over $18.1 billion in grants
and mobilized an additional $94.2 billion in
co-financing for more than 4,500 projects
in 170 countries.
e are at a pivotal moment. The
longer we delay in tackling climate
Wchange, the less likely we are to limit
warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels
by 2100—and the higher the risks and costs.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), limiting warming
to 1.5°C is not impossible, but would require
unprecedented transitions in all aspects of
society.
We need to both reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas
concentrations and to develop ways to adapt to the changes
that are now unavoidable. We need to transform the systems
8 9
THE GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENT FACILITY
AND CLIMATE CHANGE
that support how we live, how we eat, how we move, and how
we produce and consume. With its unique mandate across
multiple Multilateral Environmental Agreements, including
as a financial mechanism to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) is well placed to help catalyze the
required transformation.
The GEF is working to promote proven mitigation actions that
can reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
Such actions include, for example, promoting renewable
energy and energy efficiency, integrated urban management,
and forestry and improved land use. The GEF is also
supporting the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency
(CBIT), which helps developing countries monitor and report
on progress toward their commitments under the Paris
Agreement.
Decarbonisation of the global energy system is critically
important for a future global temperature increase that is
in line with the Paris Agreement. Since 1995, the GEF has
provided $2.5 billion and leveraged $25 billion from other
financing sources in support of expansion of renewable
energy supply and improvements in energy efficiency.
The GEF has adopted an integrated and systems-based
approach to catalyse a transformational shift towards
sustainable urban growth under its Sustainable Cities
Impact Program. This program helps cities adopt integrated
approaches to invest in cross-sectoral integrated solutions
for large-scale decarbonization and enhanced climate needed attention to the world’s drylands. FOLUR will focus the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), which supports
resilience of cities. The programme is facilitating improved on promoting transformative changes in the way we produce urgent, medium- and long-term adaptation needs in least
land use planning, infrastructure integration, circular food, with the view of decoupling agricultural development developed countries, and the Special Climate Change Fund
economy approaches, and resilient urban design. from carbon-intense and environmentally damaging practices. (SCCF), accessible by all developing countries. At an event on
the sidelines of the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in
The world also needs a more sustainable food system. However successful we will be on pushing the proper
September, donors committed $160 million to the fund.
Transformational change in food systems and land use mitigation actions, we will still need adaptation measures to
requires the engagement of multiple actors across the full cope with the impacts of climate change and variability. This A critical aspect of the GEF’s 2018-2022 adaptation strategy
spectrum of the food system, linking actors and actions is particularly true on issues like food and agriculture and is to ensure complementarity with other finance sources,
at the national, subnational, and jurisdictional scales to cities, which are at the heart of the GEF’s new strategy. so that countries can undertake effective and harmonised
downstream demand and finance private sector players. resilience programming. Another strong element is the
A key issue before us is how to manage the uncertainty of
The GEF’s Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact enhanced engagement with the private sector by expanding
future climate scenarios. While our response will be different
Program (FOLUR) takes such a holistic approach in its efforts catalytic grant and non-grant investments: the GEF supports
depending on levels of warming, it is certain that we must act
to promote sustainable food systems to tackle negative pilot investments to test new technologies, develop
now. We simply don’t have the luxury to wait and see.
externalities in entire value chains; remove deforestation entrepreneurs through incubators, seed funding, and venture
from commercial commodity supply chains; and support We must come together on planning decisions, and we must capital approaches. The goal is to mobilise the private sector
large-scale restoration of degraded landscapes for integrate mitigation and adaptation into our development as an agent for adaptation by supporting the mainstreaming
sustainable production and ecosystem services. strategies and sectoral investments. Only by working of climate change adaptation and resilience considerations
together will we find solutions needed to address the into business models and risk management capabilities.
Forest loss now accounts for about 12% of annual, global
challenge before us.
greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, two new dedicated The GEF is deploying its resources where they can be most
programs on forests and food system value chains will The GEF is helping countries to enhance adaptive capacity, helpful to all stakeholders—governments, businesses,
invest approximately $700 million of GEF resources over strengthen resilience, and reduce vulnerability to climate communities, researchers—to accelerate climate action.
the next four years to tackle the key drivers of forest loss change in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement,
For more information on the GEF’s work related to climate
and land degradation. The Sustainable Forest Management by mainstreaming resilience and adaptation to catalyze
change, please visit:
(SFM) impact program will focus on the ecological integrity transformation of key economic systems. The GEF supports
of the Amazon and the Congo Basins, and will extend much adaptation to climate change in developing countries through www.thegef.org and on Twitter: @theGEF