Earth Today | Leading climate funds team up to scale proven adaptation projects

THE ADAPTATION Fund (AF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) have announced the AF-GCF Scaling-Up Framework Operational Guidance, which sets out how the two funds will work together to take proven, country-led adaptation projects to scale.

The framework, launched at the global climate talks (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye, builds on the funds’ complementary roles and enhances the coherence of the global climate finance architecture.

“This initiative will facilitate countries’ scale-up of proven adaptation solutions, under their ownership and in line with their national priorities. Under the framework, AF and GCF will jointly identify completed or advanced-stage AF projects with strong results and potential for greater impact,” said a November 10 news release from the AF.

“These can be developed into larger investments for possible GCF financing. Every project will remain subject to country prioritisation and to each fund’s established review and approval processes,” it added.

The framework fosters coordinated support to countries to plan for scale, from early on in project design. By drawing on existing evidence and institutional relationships, it will improve the quality and predictability of project development and reduce unnecessary duplication. Joint learning is central to the framework, to help further global adaptation action.

The framework builds on the two funds’ experience of working together to scale up country-led adaptation projects. It brings together AF’s support for proven adaptation solutions and GCF’s capacity to finance larger-scale investments, creating a more coordinated pathway for countries to expand successful approaches in line with their national priorities. Together, the funds aim to strengthen complementarity and coherence across the climate finance architecture.

“An Adaptation Fund project is often where a country’s resilience journey begins, and where it starts to grow. Our direct access model strengthens the institutions that can access climate finance and sustain it. We back innovative approaches and help prove what works,” noted Mikko Ollikainen, head of the AF.

“Adaptation Fund projects that have gone on to receive GCF financing have attracted an average of $4 for every $1 invested. In half of these cases, the same partner has scaled up the project. The framework gives proven projects a clearer path to scale, connecting them to larger investment and helping meet the high demand for adaptation finance,” he added.

Mafalda Duarte, GCF’s executive director, said countries need adaptation finance that matches the scale and urgency of the climate crisis.

“This joint framework shows how GCF and AF are responding to that challenge. The framework lets proven, country-led solutions supported by the Adaptation Fund grow into larger investments, without countries having to start from scratch. It also shows how the Green Climate Fund wants to work across the climate finance system, so that every dollar goes further and reaches people faster,” she said.