The UN’s flagship climate fund has raised $9.3 billion from rich governments to help developing nations go green and protect people from the impacts of climate change – less than in its last replenishment round four years ago.
As contributions from traditional donors flatline, the Green Climate Fund’s new leadership is looking to private sources to make the money stretch.
Japan and Norway were the only major donors to announce new contributions at a pledging conference for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in Bonn, Germany, on Thursday. They offered less money – in US dollar terms – than in the previous fundraising round in 2019.
Other potential big contributors like Sweden, Italy and Switzerland, flagged their intention to make pledges in the coming weeks, saying they were not yet ready to do so for internal budgetary reasons.
Germany, the United Kingdom and France made pledges ahead of the conference.
The United States, which did not provide any money in 2019 under then-President Donald Trump, failed to announce any contribution citing “ongoing uncertainty in our budget”.
Australia said it would rejoin “with a modest contribution” to the fund from which it had withdrawn under a previous right-wing government in 2018. The exact figure is expected to be announced before the end of the year.
Mafalda Duarte, the Green Climate Fund’s executive director, hailed the fundraising as a “success” during a press conference. Contributors “recognise that addressing the climate crisis is a shared responsibility and that developing nations are not alone in this fight”, she said.
But campaigners told Climate Home News they were disappointed by the pledges. “It is just unacceptable,” said Erika Lennon, who monitors the GCF for the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). “The climate crisis has only gotten worse and it is ridiculous countries are not meeting that urgency with the level of finance needed”.
Who is contributing?
A critical financing mechanism of the Paris Agreement, the GCF was set up to channel money needed by poor states to meet their targets to reduce carbon emissions and adjust to the effects of climate change.
It is seeking donations to fund its activities between 2024 and 2027, hoping to exceed the $10 billion it raised in the previous fundraising round four years ago.
UN puts climate ‘course correction’ on Cop28 negotiating table
Germany is set to become the fund’s biggest donor with a €2 billion ($2.2 billion) pledge – 30% higher in US dollar terms than its previous contribution.
It is followed by the United Kingdom with £1.6 billion ($2 billion) – slightly higher than its 2019 pledge – and France with €1.61 billion ($1.75bn), a 4% cut in US dollars given the less favourable exchange rate.
Once the fund’s biggest contributor, Japan has not raised its financial commitment from four years ago, meaning a nearly 19% decrease in real terms.
The US, which is a co-chair of the GCF’s board, has “strong and steadfast confidence” in the fund, according to a statement read out to the attendees in Bonn on behalf of Alexia Latortue, Assistant Secretary for International Trade and Development.
But no financial commitment is forthcoming. “The US is currently working on its announcement but can’t pledge today given ongoing uncertainty in our budget process,” she added.
Joe Thwaites, a senior advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it was a “missed opportunity”, and there were now “great expectations the Biden administration will make a pledge no later than Cop28”.
Lower ambition
A stagnation in overall contributions may force the GCF to rein in its ambitions.
Current and expected pledges put the fund on course to only marginally exceed $10 billion, which was labelled as a “status quo” or “low” scenario in an internal strategy document seen by Climate Home. That is contrasted with a mid-level target of $12.5 billion and a “high” scenario of $15 billion.
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The different levels of ambitions have real-world significance.
In the “status quo” scenario, the bulk of resources would be taken up by projects already in the pipeline – the document says – with new programming only achievable through “significant trade-offs”.
Under a “mid” scenario, the fund plans to extend early warning systems to four more countries, help five million more smallholder farmers and develop climate-friendly food systems and ecosystems.
In the “high” scenario, the fund would help developing countries’ financial systems work towards a green transition and promote clean technology innovation, the document says.
Liane Schalatek from the Heinrich Böll Foundation told Climate Home that this is the “wrong signal” to send with only a few weeks to go before Cop28. “If we are staying at 10 billion it is an effective reduction because of the significant inflation that we have seen since the last fundraising. This is simply not good enough.”
Calls for other money flows
The lack of more commitment from wealthy governments may also deal a blow to the new vision for the fund outlined by Mafalda Duarte less than two weeks ago. The executive director wants the fund to have a capitalisation of $50 billion by 2030, up from $17 billion today.
A key pillar of the plan is the ability to draw in dollars from the private sector. “Public resources will not be enough”, said Duarte on Thursday. “They need to be enablers of a much larger flow of investment.”
Cop28 boss’ appeal to raise climate targets met with total indifference
Major donors are increasingly calling for an expansion to the donor base beyond the countries historically defined as “developed”. Germany pointed the finger, in particular, at the oil-rich Gulf States and China, saying they had a “responsibility” to pitch in with contributions.
“We accept our responsibility and do our fair share,” said federal development minister Svenja Schulze after the conference. “On this basis, we can also ask others to do their fair share too.”
The post Green Climate Fund ambition at risk after ‘disappointing’ pledges appeared first on Climate Home News.
Green Climate Fund ambition at risk after ‘disappointing’ pledges
Saturday, 17 October 2026
7.18 AM AWST
Hi folks! We’re joining you live from the Rainbow Warrior where we will be providing you with updates as our four activists continue scaling and occupying Woodside’s gas platform. The activists are peacefully protesting against Woodside’s latest gas expansion plans, the Browse project, which would see up to 57 toxic wells drilled at Scott Reef.
“Right now our activists are scaling Woodside’s massive Floating Production Unit. They are scaling the South-East pillar and the underside of the Helideck. They’ll be setting up camp soon and have plenty of provisions with them – so stick around!”
5:45 AM AWST
Our RHIBS are in the water! We’ve deployed our four activists and our ship crew on our small fast boats, headed to the gas platform. We’re carrying crew and equipment, plenty of food, all of our safety climbing gear, some big banners, cameras and a whole lot of heart… someone even has something to read after they get settled in.
5:26 AM AWST
Before sunrise activists prepared to launch RHIBS from the Rainbow Warrior.
Looking for a front seat view?
You can follow along with the Live Rainbow Warrior bow cam here!
Looking for more?
Follow us on Instagram for a peek behind the scenes and hear from our Rainbow Warrior crew.
Live blog: Greenpeace activists occupy Woodside gas project to save Scott Reef
Climate Change
Greenpeace activists climb and occupy Woodside’s Scarborough gas project calling on the Australian government to “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas” and “Save Scott Reef”
PERTH, Saturday 17 October 2026 — Four Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists are scaling and occupying a Floating Production Unit at Woodside’s Scarborough gas project off the coast of Western Australia, displaying banners reading: “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef.”
- Photos and video available here and here. More will be uploaded throughout the day.
- Content and live updates will be uploaded to a live blog and to Instagram
Early this morning at 05:45 AWST, Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists launched from the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace’s flagship vessel, scaling and attaching themselves to a Floating Production Unit (FPU), a key piece of gas processing infrastructure at the Scarborough gas field over 200km off the coast of Exmouth.
Woodside has since confirmed it has initiated a temporary shut down of the FPU.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific is occupying the gas platform in peaceful protest of Woodside’s plans to drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef as part of its Browse proposal.
David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Greenpeace Australia Pacific is taking action today to expose the unacceptable risk to Scott Reef posed by Woodside’s plans.
“Australians love our oceans. Woodside’s reckless Browse gas proposal would turn the magnificent Scott Reef into an industrial gas zone. Woodside wants to drill up to 57 toxic wells around Scott Reef, Australia’s largest oceanic reef, home to nesting green sea turtles, and endangered species like pygmy blue whales and the dusky sea snake; it is a place like nowhere else on Earth.
“Woodside has an alarming track record of oil spills, incidents and environmental neglect, and can’t be trusted with our oceans. From whaling in Albany in the seventies, to Woodside’s threat to Scott Reef today, there’s more than fifty years of history, of Greenpeace taking action off WA’s coasts to protect our oceans.
“There’s no future in new gas projects. Our future is in secure homegrown renewable energy, green industry and exports, where communities and places like Scott Reef are protected — there’s no future in dirty gas shipped offshore.
“The prospect of drilling for oil or gas on the Great Barrier Reef would be considered absolute madness today, but that is exactly the decision before the government: save Scott Reef or risk its destruction at the hands of a gas corporation.”
From aboard the Floating Production Unit, Dr Chris Holden, Greenpeace Australia Pacific activist said: “As a doctor, when I see new fossil fuel projects like Woodside’s Browse project being put forward, I can’t help but think about the impact this is going to have on the health of our communities and planet, and feel a sense of duty to act.
“Not only will this project do irrevocable harm to nature at Scott Reef, it will have a terrible impact on our climate, putting all of our lives at risk.
“On the Rainbow Warrior I’m carrying a copy of the 2025 Lancet countdown report, which warns that health impacts of climate change are worsening, with millions dying needlessly each year due to fossil fuel dependence, growing emissions, and failure to adequately adapt.
“With warnings like this from the leading global health professionals, our government simply can’t allow fossil fuel projects like Woodside’s Browse project to go ahead. It is their duty to do what is in the best interest of our communities.”
Almost half a million people have signed a petition calling on the government to Save Scott Reef and Woodside’s Browse gas project.
-ENDS-
Notes:
- Dial-in, SimSat and Zoom interviews with Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, currently aboard the Rainbow Warrior, can be organised separately
Media contact:
Greenpeace Australia Pacific media team on +61 406 231 892 or +61 407 581 404
The board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) will decide on Thursday on whether to “provisionally set aside” $20 million for Nepal to deal with some of the effects of the climate-driven flood it suffered in August.
The motion, seen by Climate Home News, has been drafted by a group of board members from both developed and developing countries and so is likely to pass easily at the fund’s first-ever extraordinary board meeting on October 22.
It invites the government of Nepal to submit a proposal for how to use the money, with the board then deciding at one of its regular board meetings whether to approve the proposal or not.
While Nepali officials have described $20 million as merely “symbolic” in the face of the $4.8 billion estimated costs of recovery and reconstruction, it would be the first time the new FRLD – agreed in 2022 months after devastating floods in Pakistan – has set aside money for a specific disaster.
Until now the fund has only taken requests through a single call for proposals, launched at COP30 in Belém last November, that gave countries six months to submit requests.
Most of the 180 projects the FRLD is currently considering are designed to help countries avoid damage from future climate disasters, for example by strengthening responses to floods in Bangladesh and Lagos.
The draft decision says Nepal’s proposal will serve as a pilot for how funding requests can be submitted outside of the fund’s current timetable. That could let governments seek funds quickly after a climate disaster strikes, rather than waiting for the next call.
This arrangement would set the fund apart from other United Nations funds designed for climate adaptation or cutting emissions like the Green Climate Fund.
Climate campaigners from Fill the Fund said the draft decision is “a real step forward” as it is “the first time this Fund has moved to respond to a specific disaster”.
Too little, too late
The FRLD was agreed by governments at COP27, set up and operationalised at COP28 in 2023 but has yet to award any money. The 180 funding requests it is currently considering would cost around $2.8 billion, but it only has $350 million to allocate.
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has described the amount of money available in the fund as “ridiculously small” and Fill the Fund said $20 million “is a meaningful signal but it is a drop against an ocean of need”.
A glacial rock and ice collapse sent a torrent of water and debris through Nepal and the Chinese-administered region of Tibet on August 26. It killed more than 1,400 people, left thousands more missing and destroyed homes, bridges, roads and hydropower plants. Nepal’s finance and environment ministers quickly appealed to the FRLD board for funds, saying that “time is of the essence”.
Their call was followed swiftly by a letter from developing country FRLD board members urging the board’s co-chairs to organise an extraordinary meeting to allocate funds to Nepal.
But developed countries initially called for an informal consultation rather than a full board meeting. It took a further 45 days for the board’s co-chairs to organise an extraordinary board meeting for October 22 and to draft a motion for adoption.
Fill the Fund called for a permanent way of the fund rapid responding to disasters as “Nepal should not have required historic letters, an informal drafting group and the Fund’s first-ever extraordinary meeting simply to unlock an emergency response. The next country cannot wait two months and a bureaucratic marathon. Speed must be built in, not improvised.”
The post UN’s loss and damage fund set to give Nepal $20m for flood recovery appeared first on Climate Home News.
UN’s loss and damage fund set to give Nepal $20m for flood recovery
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Live blog: Greenpeace activists occupy Woodside gas project to save Scott Reef
Greenpeace activists climb and occupy Woodside’s Scarborough gas project calling on the Australian government to “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas” and “Save Scott Reef”
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