December 2020 | Issue 7
ADAPTATION FINANCE BULLETIN
UNFCCC Adaptation Committee
The UNFCCC Adaptation Finance Bulletin provides the latest news and updates to Parties and other interested stakeholders on adaptation finance-related information from funds, UNFCCC bodies and negotiations, as well as an overview of relevant upcoming events.
Adaptation Finance Quick Facts
As at 16 November 2020, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) had committed USD 7.3 billion to 159 projects, with about 36% of its funding directed to adaptation. It anticipates that 408 million people are increasing their resilience as a result of its work. As at 31 August 2020, the GCF had approved 57 proposals under its readiness programme for the formulation of national adaptation plans (NAPs) and other adaptation planning processes while a further 28 adaptation planning proposals were at various stages of the review process..

The Adaptation Fund estimates its impact to date in terms of USD 778 million allocated to adaptation activities, 271 680 ha of natural habitats preserved or restored, 114 concrete, localized adaptation projects, and 9 million direct beneficiaries in developing countries.

By 2020, the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-managed Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) had approximately USD 1.5 billion in grant financing approved for more than 290 projects in LDCs to (i) implement urgent adaptation measures laid out in National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs); and (ii) support the formulation of NAPs to help countries identify medium and long-term adaptation needs. 

The GEF-managed Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), since its inception, has received USD 288 million of contributions to its programme for adaptation. As of 30 June 2020, there are USD 7.5 million available for Council/CEO approval and/or CEO endorsement.
Relevant Upcoming Events


  • 22 – 26 March 2021: 36th Meeting of the Adaptation Fund Board
News from the Green Climate Fund
GCF Holds Its Second Board Meeting Virtually
At its 27th Meeting, held virtually from 9-13 November 2020, the GCF Board approved over USD 1 billion of funding for 16 projects that will contribute to low-emission, climate- resilient development. With that, total approved funding in 2020 has added up to over USD 2 billion, making it a record year for GCF programming. The meeting also resulted in the adoption of the Updated Strategic Plan for the GCF 2020-2023, setting an ambitious direction for GCF during its first replenishment period. This includes a recognition of its critical and distinctive contribution towards scaling up financing for adaptation, and resilience, with a focus on those particularly vulnerable to climate change.(Photo by the Green Climate Fund).
At its first virtual meeting...

... the GCF Board had approved a two-year work programme and budget for 2020– 2021, which aligns the revised Readiness Programme strategy with the GCF-1 period and provides expedited access to resources for countries to develop climate resilient recovery strategies to the COVID-19 pandemic (rapid readiness support, decision B.26/05).
New Working Paper Published
In October 2020, the GCF has published a working paper on scaling up climate finance in the era of the COVID-19 to enable developing countries to realize their climate ambition. It highlights the risks posed by climate change to the finance system as well the risks and opportunities related to investment in low emission, climate resilient infrastructure in developing countries. It assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to finance in middle and low income countries for low emission, climate resilient investments and identifies a combination of policy, financial and institutional initiatives to scale up climate finance.
This year’s annual GCF Private Investment for Climate Conference (GPIC), held virtually from 14-16 October 2020, brought together more than 2,200 participants from 130 countries and from the public and private sectors to explore how to generate the private sector investments needed to create bold solutions to deal with the twin challenges of climate change and COVID-19.
As part of its achievements in 2020, the Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) of the GCF commenced an independent evaluation of the adaptation approaches and portfolio of the GCF which will examine the extent to which the GCF is contributing to a paradigm shift in adaptation in developing countries. A 2-page brief of the evaluation and an approach paper is available online. The final report of the evaluation is planned to be tabled at the twenty-eighth meeting of the Board (March 2021 tbc).
News from the Global Environment Facility
The 59th meeting of the GEF Council and 29th meeting of the LDCF and SCCF Council took place virtually from 7-11 December 2020. The meetings included extensive discussions of the coronavirus and moved to financially support countries seeking to protect nature and tackle environmental priorities amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the meeting a new GEF COVID-19 Task Force’s white paper was published which outlines ways environmental action can reduce future disease outbreak threats.

Council members approved a USD 409.2 million work program designed with COVID-19 in mind, offering urgent assistance to 87 of the world’s most vulnerable countries. It targets countries most in need in Africa and Asia, spanning 32 LDCs and 19 Small Island Developing States (SIDS), aiming to directly benefit more than 25 million people.

The Council also endorsed new approaches to engage with the private sector and confront future zoonotic disease risks. It endorsed a new private sector engagement strategy outlining how the GEF will work in a systematic way with industry groups, companies, and investors.

The Council of the LDCF and the SCCF approved a USD 64 million LDCF work program comprising of nine projects, including three multi-trust fund projects that combine resources with the GEF. (Photo by Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock).
News from the Adaptation Fund
Decisions on two new funding windows for large innovation grants and Enhanced Direct Access
The Board of the Adaptation Fund held its 35th meeting virtually from 26-28 October 2020. Besides greenlighting new grants for a variety of projects it took several important decisions in relation to implementing its five-year Medium-Term Strategy which may also serve to alleviate countries from the heavy impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic while meeting their adaptation targets. These decisions include, among others, the establishment of two new funding windows for large innovation grants (up to USD 5 million each) and Enhanced Direct Access, both of which will provide vulnerable countries with further opportunities to access funds needed to meet the dual challenges of climate change and COVID-19. Entities will be eligible for these additional opportunities beyond countries’ regular project funding limits. In addition, the Board raised its annual resource mobilization target to USD 120 million per year for the biennium 2020-2021 in response to record highs in new proposals received from developing countries, including due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by the Adaptation Fund)
The New Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA) Programme is Launched
The new USD 10 million Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA) programme, introduced at COP 25 in Madrid, was launched during a virtual event on 18 November 2020. The programme is intended to foster innovation in adaptation in developing countries and targets a broad range of potential finance recipients, including governments, non-governmental organizations, community groups, young innovators and other groups. It is administered jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) and offers grant funding or technical assistance up to an amount of USD 250,000 per project
Adaptation Fund Contributor Dialogue for Ambition in Adaptation Finance
In conjunction with the 2020 Climate Ambition Summit, the Adaptation Fund, on 14 December 2020, convened a virtual Adaptation Fund Contributor Dialogue for Ambition in Adaptation Finance, which was hosted by the COP 25 Chilean Presidency and the incoming COP 26 U.K. Presidency. It brought together high-level representatives from contributor, recipient governments and civil society who highlighted the Fund’s crucial role in the climate finance landscape. New pledges were announced during the event from several donor countries in acknowledgement of the important work of the AF and in view of meeting the increased resource mobilization target for the biennium 2020-2021.
Latest News for the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM Excom)
The WIM Excom held its 12th meeting virtually from 12-16 October 2020. At the meeting it launched three new expert groups to help execute the work of the Excom in guiding the implementation of the WIM, namely the expert group on slow onset events, on non-economic losses, and on action and support. The latter will assist the Excom in implementing decisions taken by the COP and CMA, and the Excom five-year rolling workplan, as it relates to action and support, including finance, technology and capacity-building, as well as new mandates arising from guidance by Parties.
For all three expert groups Excom 12 adopted the terms of reference and elected Excom members to serve in the respective groups. These are now in the process of identifying and inviting technical experts to become members of the groups and to determine the date of their group’s first meeting. The expert group on action and support is likely to have its first meeting at the beginning of 2021.
Latest News from the Adaptation Committee

The Adaptation Committee held its 18th meeting (AC18) virtually from 9-12 November 2020.

As part of the meeting, it discussed an advanced draft of a compilation of methodologies for reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation and support. Work on this topic, which is undertaken jointly with the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) and the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF), is expected to result in recommendations on how to undertake such a review under the global stocktake. The advanced draft includes several examples of methodologies which could be most useful in reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation at different scales, including the project and national level, as well as examples of approaches to review the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation support (finance, technology, capacity-building) applied by various review mechanisms under the Convention as well as by climate funds or other international initiatives.

Another item on the meeting’s agenda, which was considered inter-sessionally via the AC’s online collaboration space, was an information document on capacity gaps in accessing adaptation funding. This document, which is based on submissions from Parties and non-Party stakeholders received in 2019 and early 2020, is currently being refined and as a next step the AC is planning to consult with the LEG, the Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB) and the SCF on follow-up activities with a focus on sustained, long-term, in-country capacity-building for accessing adaptation funding. The Facilitative Working Group of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP FWG) has also offered to collaborate in this regard
Updates from the Standing Committee on Finance
The SCF, at its virtual meeting held from 16-17 December 2020, discussed progress on the preparations of the 4th Biennial Assessment and Overview of Climate Finance Flows, which, for the first time, will contain a mapping of information relevant to Article 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement (making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low GHG emissions and climate-resilient development). It also discussed progress on the preparation of the first report on the determination of the needs of developing country Parties related to implementing the Convention and the Paris Agreement, which is expected for mid-2021. This report will present needs from four topical perspectives: mitigation/adaptation; sectoral breakdown; means of implementation; and a geographical perspective.

The next SCF Forum will focus on finance for nature-based solutions (NbS). The Forum was originally planned for 2020 and the confirmation of a date for an in-person event in 2021 will depend on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SCF also deliberated on the draft guidance to the operating entities of the Financial Mechanism which will be considered by COP 26 and cover two sets of reports by the operating entities, namely for 2020 and for 2021.
UNFCCC ADAPTATION COMMITTEE | https://unfccc.int/Adaptation-Committee