The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was established in 2010 as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), designed to disburse $100 billion per year of new and additional resources by 2020 for addressing climate change.

Access to Fund resources will be through national, regional and international implementing entities accredited by the Board. Direct access by national public and private entities has been a key feature of the Fund in line with a GCF’s commitment to country ownership. The Government of Ghana nominated the Real Sector Division of Ministry of Finance to be the National Designated Authority (NDA) to liaise with the GCF.

The project has targeted two important aspects of the GCF approach, 1) access to funds and 2) private sector engagement, both of which will require significant preparatory work in many countries before GCF financing will be possible at scale. The GCF Readiness Programme has focused on a range of preparatory activities to a) build and strengthen the institutional capacity of national entities in Ghana, with a focus on enabling direct access; and to b) help Ghana prepare climate change mitigation and adaptation investment strategies, programmes and projects, including through the active involvement of both the public and private sectors.