1. Negotiations

Global Environment Facility - GEF

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was created in 1991 to address financing needs in response to mounting concerns over global environmental problems. The GEF was set up to provide new and additional grants and concessional funding to cover the “incremental” or additional costs associated with transforming a project with national benefits into one with global environmental benefits. The GEF’s work focuses on six main areas, including biodiversity, climate change (mitigation and adaptation), chemicals, international waters, land degradation, sustainable forest management.

The GEF also serves as a financial mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The GEF is funded by donor countries and GEF support is provided to government agencies, civil society organizations, private sector companies, and research institutions to implement projects and programs in recipient countries.

Events

Showing 11 - 20 of 43 results

7th GEF Assembly

In a watershed moment for biodiversity, GEF Assembly members unanimously agreed to ratify the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund—a new source of funding for protecting endangered species and their ecosystems globally. The meeting also featured the first-ever Partnership Forum, which brought together Indigenous Peoples, youth, women, and representatives of civil society organizations to discuss ways the GEF can support their empowerment and recognition.
Event 22 August 2023 - 26 August 2023

64th Meeting of the GEF Council

Council Members focused on supporting new, key environmental agreements and frameworks, reaching consensus on the establishment of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, including its programming directions, and on preparing the GEF to serve as part of the financial mechanism for the Agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).
Event 26 June 2023 - 29 June 2023

63rd Meeting of the GEF Council

The GEF Council endorsed $65 million for biodiversity projects, including more than $18 million to support the development of biodiversity finance plans in 26 countries. GEF Council members, meeting virtually, also approved the establishment of a new Gustavo Fonseca Youth Conservation Leadership program to support the education of promising young conservationists from developing countries.
Event 28 November 2022 - 2 December 2022

62nd Meeting of the GEF Council

GEF Council Members endorsed the more than USD 5 billion replenishment for the next four-year period of the GEF and adopted Work Programs worth more than USD 238 million, launching projects that will contribute to a green and blue recovery and direct significant resources to small island developing States and least developed countries.
Event 21 June 2022 - 23 June 2022

GEF Consultation with Civil Society on Inclusive Microfinance

The Global Environment Facility Civil Society Organization Network came together to provide insights on micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises and their work in the eighth replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund and beyond.
Event 17 June 2022

61st Meeting of the GEF Council

The Council approved a Work Program worth more than USD 190 million, directing significant resources to vulnerable countries in Africa and Asia, and across the Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.
Event 6 December 2021 - 10 December 2021

60th Meeting of the GEF Council

The 60th meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council adopted a Work Program worth USD 281.1 million that includes eight stand-alone full-sized projects on international waters, four on biodiversity, three on climate change mitigation, and two on chemicals and waste.
Event 14 June 2021 - 18 June 2021

GEF Consultations with Civil Society

Prior to the 60th Meeting of the GEF Council, Secretariat staff and Council members engaged in a consultation with civil society organizations on the theme, “Enhancing Climate Resilience: The Role of Civil Society, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.”
Event 11 June 2021

59th Meeting of the GEF Council

The Council meetings included extensive discussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, deliberating the pandemic’s impact on project management, and considered a white paper by the GEF COVID-19 Task Force outlining how environmental action can reduce future threats of disease outbreak. The GEF Council also endorsed a new private sector engagement strategy, outlining how the GEF will work in a systematic manner with industry groups, companies, and investors to reverse unsustainable global trends and deliver global environmental benefits.
Event 4 December 2020 - 12 December 2020