Highlights and images for 18 December 2025

Thursday opened on a high note, with new pledges to the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) announced alongside the approval of a new Work Program under the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF). These developments support ongoing efforts to advance climate adaptation and biodiversity action globally.

The 39th meeting of the LDCF/SCCF Council continued, with four donors announcing new pledges, as follows:

• Germany pledged EUR 10 million to the LDCF;
• Belgium announced EUR 5.9 million for the LDCF;
• Ireland pledged EUR 3 million to the LDCF and EUR 2 million to the SCCF; and
• Sweden pledged SEK 130 million to the LDCF.

Welcoming the announcements, Evans Njewa, Chair, LDC Group, expressed appreciation for the contributions, noting that several technically cleared projects are still awaiting resources for implementation.

The fifth meeting of the GBFF Council opened with Council Co-Chair Richard Bontjer, Australia, highlighting that the GBFF has completed its fourth funding round, with 21 LDCs and small island developing states (SIDS) accessing the Fund for the first time.

Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), welcomed the speed with which the Fund has been operationalized, its alignment with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), and its increased complementarity with the Green Climate Fund. She called for addressing the biodiversity finance gap and cautioned that the GBFF should not divert the core GEF biodiversity resources.

Claude Gascon, Director, Strategy and Operations, GEF Secretariat, reported that the GBFF has achieved all three of its portfolio targets to date: 43% of projects support LDCs and SIDS, exceeding the 39% target; 28% of financing is programmed through international financial institutions (IFIs), above the 25% target; and 29% of GBFF financing supports Indigenous Peoples and local community (IPLC) actions, surpassing the aspirational 20% target.

The Council approved the GBFF Work Program, presented by Chizuru Aoki and Benjamin Singer, GEF Secretariat. The program comprises three projects in Colombia, Indonesia, and Madagascar, mobilizing USD 28.38 million and leveraging approximately USD 57.07 million in co-financing. The Secretariat highlighted that, on average, 23.5% of resources across the three projects will support IPLCs, exceeding the aspirational target.

Council members welcomed the Work Program. They lauded the expansion of locally-managed marine areas beyond the Pacific region, and expressed satisfaction with strong IFI involvement and a high resource share for IPLCs. Council members, however, called for increased co-financing, greater regional balance, and deeper engagement of SIDS and LDCs in future programming.

The Council also considered the draft document “Towards a Resource Mobilization Strategy for the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund 2025-2030.” Chizuru Aoki and Sumeet Kaur, GEF Secretariat, presented the draft, noting that it responds to not only a request by the Council at its fourth meeting, but also to specific asks by the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD.

Regarding the capitalization of the Fund, the presentation noted that the GBFF has received USD 388.6 million in voluntary contributions since its launch in August 2023, and presented two indicative capitalization scenarios:

• Scenario A would seek USD 900 million in cumulative resources over five years, from both sovereign and non-sovereign sources, with an increasing share of non-sovereign contributions set at USD 150 million over five years; and
• Scenario B would seek USD 1.625 billion in cumulative resources over five years, from both sovereign and non-sovereign sources, with an increasing share of non-sovereign resources set at USD 375 million over five years.

Council members expressed appreciation to the Secretariat for the document and supported the four pillars to mobilize resources from diverse sources, including sovereign partners, subnational and regional public institutions, philanthropy, and the private sector. Some Council members however expressed concern about the reliance on sovereign donor funds to support programming tranches. Members broadly supported expanding the terms of reference of a proposed Ad Hoc Working Group to explore ways to enhance and strengthen the predictability of contributions to the GBFF. 

The 70th GEF, 39th LDCF/SCCF, and 5th GBFF Council meetings will conclude their work on Friday.