Towards the Effective Operation of the Green Climate Fund: Senior Research Fellow Tomonori Sudo Publishes a Joint Working Paper with KOICA

On December 16, 2014, KOICA Working Paper No. 2014-3 entitled “Enhancing Readiness Programs for the Green Climate Fund,” co-authored by Senior Researcher Eunkyoung Hong of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and JICA-RI Senior Research Fellow Tomonori Sudo, was released.

Developing countries are more vulnerable to climate change and more exposed to serious risks than developed countries. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was established in 2011 under the agreement of the 16th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) in order to respond to the need of developing countries in reducing or mitigating their greenhouse gas emissions and adapting themselves to the impacts of climate change. The GCF enables the governments of developing countries to obtain direct access to the Fund without intermediaries, but it demands the task of meeting fiduciary standards as well as environmental and social safeguards. In order to support developing countries to meet the standards, the GCF has developed a “readiness program.” This paper examines the readiness program and the needs of the recipient countries, focusing on identifying the gap between the two. Based on the findings, authors suggest five policy recommendations towards the effective operation of the GCF.