Name of Fund

Special Climate Change Fund

Date created

Date fund proposed: At the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Marrakesh, from October 29 to November 10, 2001, (COP7) the GEF, as a financial mechanism of the Convention, was requested to operate two new funds related to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (the Special Climate Change Fund and the Least Developed Countries Fund).

Date fund made operational: At the eighth session of the COP in October 2002, the GEF reported on the arrangements that had been made for the establishment of the funds.

Administrating organisation

Global Environment Facility (GEF) with World Bank as Trustee.

Objectives

SCCF OBJECTIVES

Currently, the objective of the SCCF is to support adaptation and technology transfer projects and programs that:

• are country-driven, cost-effective and integrated into national sustainable development and poverty-reduction strategies; and,
• take into account national communications or NAPAs and other relevant studies and information provided by the Party.

SCCF Adaptation

SCCF adaptation projects support the implementation of adaptation actions in non-annex I parties. COP guidance lists the following areas for adaptation under the SCCF:

(a) Water resources management;

(b) Land management;

(c) Agriculture;

(d) Health;

(e) Infrastructure development;

(f) Fragile ecosystems (including mountain ecosystems);

(g) Integrated coastal zone management; and,

(h) Climatic disaster risk management.

SCCF Technology Transfer

Technology transfer under the SCCF focuses on the transfer of environmentally sustainable technologies, concentrating on, but not limited to, technologies to reduce emissions or atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, in line with the recommendations from the national communications, technology assessments (TNAs), and other relevant information.

According to COP guidance the SCCF can support:

(a) implementation of the results of technology needs assessments;

(b) technology information;

(c) capacity-building for technology transfer; and

(d) enabling environments.

Donor contributions

Pledged: As of January 2012, pledges had been received from 13 contributing participants (see table below). The total amount pledged to date is USD eq. 216.55 million.

Deposited: As of January 2012, the total amount deposited is USD eq. 170.65 million.

See table below for further details:

Activities supported

The SCCF has four different windows:

1. Adaptation
2. Transfer of technologies
3. Energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry, and waste management
4. Activities to assist developing countries whose economies are highly dependent on income generated from the production, processing, and export or on consumption of fossil fuels and associated energy-intensive products in diversifying their economies

The Parties to the Climate Convention identified adaptation to climate change as the top priority of the SCCF, and technology transfer and its associated capacity building activities as another essential area for funding. 

For the SCCF program for adaptation, adaptation activities financed under the fund will aim to support capacity building, including institutional capacity, to make project preparatory work, constituency building, and awareness raising more informed of the likely implications of and changes brought on by climate change. Activities will be implemented in the following areas:

• Water resources management;
• Land management;
• Agriculture;
• Health;
• Infrastructure development;
• Fragile ecosystems (including mountain ecosystems); and
• Integrated coastal zone management.

For the SCCF program for transfer of technologies, the fund will focus on the transfer of environmentally sustainable technologies, concentrating on technologies to reduce emissions or atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. The transfer of technologies targeting adaptation will be addressed and funded under adaptation activities.

Conditions and eligibility requirements

All Non-Annex 1 countries are eligible to apply. However, geographical emphasis is given to the most vulnerable countries in Africa, Asia, and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The project size can be small, medium or large.

Furthermore, activities must focus on 'additional costs' imposed by climate change on the development baseline. This means that activities which are considered as part of the development baseline are not considered. For example, improvement of public health and education systems, infrastructure for rural development, and water sanitation are not eligible. Funding is provided only to address impacts of climate change on a vulnerable socio-economic sector that are above and beyond the baseline. However, projects do not need to generate global environmental benefits. Local benefits can be generated by SCCF projects, as long as the case for 'additionality' can be made. 

Funds disbursed to date

Uptake and projects supported

Proposed life of fund

Unknown

Further information

1. GEF webpage for the Special Climate Change Fund

2. UNFCCC webpage for the Special Climate Change Fund

3. SCCF Project Highlights

4. Latest GEF annual reports to the Conference of Parties 

5. "Accessing resources under the SCCF" document

Decision-making structure for fund disbursement

When the SCCF was established by the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) at its 7th Session, the COP asked the GEF to manage the SCCF, with the World Bank as the Trustee. The GEF receives guidance from and reports to the UNFCCC COP. The governing body of the SCCF is the LDCF/SCCF Council which meets two times a year.

The GEF is the managing body of the SCCF and LDCF funds. GEF’s operational policies, procedures and governance structure are applied to these funds. Its governing structure is composed of: the Assembly, the Council, the Secretariat, ten Agencies, a Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP), and the Independent Office of Monitoring and Evaluation.

For purposes of the SCCF, the GEF functions under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP).

For decision making purposes the GEF Council meets as the Council for the LDCF and the SCCF (hereafter referred to as the LDCF/SCCF Council). Any GEF Council Member is eligible to take part in the LDCF/SCCF Council and may choose to participate or to attend as an observer.

The policies and procedures and the governance structure of the GEF apply to the climate change funds, unless the LDCF/SCCF Council decides it is necessary to modify such policies and procedures to be responsive to the guidance of the COP. 

Components of governing structure:

The Assembly is composed of all 176 member countries, or Participants. It meets every four years at the ministerial level to review the general policies, operations, membership and potential amendments of the GEF.
 
The Council is the main governing body of the GEF comprising 32 Members appointed by constituencies of GEF member countries: 14 from donor constituencies and 18 from recipient constituencies. The Council meets every six months and is responsible for developing, adopting and evaluating the operational policies and programs for GEF-financed activities, as well as reviewing and approving the work program (projects submitted for approval). As decisions are made by consensus, two-thirds of the Members of the Council constitute a quorum.

The GEF Secretariat coordinates the overall implementation of GEF activities. It services and reports to the Assembly and the Council. The Secretariat is headed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who is appointed to serve for three years, and may be reappointed by the Council.

The GEF Agencies are the operational arm of the GEF. The GEF develops its projects through ten Implementing Agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) the World Bank,  the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Inter-American Development Bank (IAD), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) provides independent advice to the GEF on scientific and technical aspects of programs and policies. The members of STAP are appointed by the Executive Director of UNEP, in consultation with the GEF’s CEO, the Administrator of UNDP, and the President of the World Bank.

The Independent Office of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) provides a basis for decision-making on amendments and improvements of policies, strategies, program management, procedures and projects; promotes accountability for resource use against project objectives; and documents and provides feedback to subsequent activities, and promotes knowledge management on results, performance and lessons learned.

The GEF Focal Points (Country Representatives) are government officials, designated by member countries, responsible for GEF activities and to ensure that GEF projects are country-driven and based on national priorities. The complete list of GEF Focal Points, including name, position, government agency, complete address, phone, fax and e-mail, can be accessed at: http://www.thegef.org/gef/focal_points_list

The Project partners are organizations and entities implementing projects on the ground, including governments, national institutions, international organizations, local communities, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions and private sector entities.

1. Council approval (which corresponds to steps 1 and 2 of the figure) of a project concept (so-called PIF: Project Identification Form). This step can be skipped if the grant request is below US$1 million and no PPG is needed. 

2. CEO approval/ CEO endorsement (which correspond to step 3 of the figure) of a fully developed project proposal. Once a project is CEO endorsed, the GEF Trustee releases the required project funds for transfer to the Implementing Agency.

Consultations with non-government stakeholders

The SCCF follows the GEF public involvement policy approved by the GEF Council in 1996 and consistent with the provision of the Instrument for the Establishment of the Restructured GEF [http://www.thegef.org/gef/instrument], which explicitly sets the need for public involvement, the basic provisions of which state that all GEF-financed projects will “provide for full disclosure of non-confidential information, and consultation with, and participation as appropriate of, major groups and local communities throughout the project cycle.” (p. 12, Basic Provisions, para. 5).

The Programming Paper for Funding the Implementation of NAPAs under the LDC Trust Fund further explicitly requires stakeholder consultation in the formulation of NAPAs and subsequent project implementation, which is supportive of high local involvement. Indeed, stakeholder consultations are the central feature of NAPAs, as clearly indicated in the Annotated Guidelines for the Preparation of National Adaptation Plans of Action [http://unfccc.int/files/cooperation_and_support/ldc/application/pdf/annguide.pdf] which stipulate that the participation of men and women at the grassroots-level is essential for providing input on prioritization of actions on impacts affecting their communities, as well as current coping strategies that the NAPA seeks to enhance, following COP 7 Decision 28. The guidelines also stipulate that “[o]opportunities for the involvement of the private sector, NGOs and civil-society organizations should be sought and recognize that the “engagement of people at the grassroots level will be important in ensuring successful implementation of NAPA activities.” Furthermore, stakeholder consultations are one of ten guiding principles of NAPAs.

In addition, the SCCF trust fund imposes an explicit requirement that projects demonstrate local benefits. As a result, this is reflected in the PIF and CEO Endorsement Request Forms for SCCF, where both have sections requiring input on stakeholder involvement. Therefore, this information is available for each project in the PIF and full project documents, which are available in the GEF Project Database [http://www.gefonline.org/].

Finally, since the SCCF operates through GEF’s ten Implementing Agencies, this means that the projects funded by these funds are further subject to the rules and operational policies that govern those Agencies, and this includes’ the Agencies’ rules and policies on local stakeholder involvement.

Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) participate in the GEF NGO Consultation and Council Meeting through the GEF-NGO network.

The GEF-NGO Network comprises all accredited NGOs to the GEF. For representation at the Council meetings, the network is divided into regions according to the GEF regional structure. Currently, some 600 NGOs are accredited to the GEF. The network aims to strengthen and influence the work of the GEF at all levels, with an aim to integrate NGOs at appropriate levels of decision-making and implementation of programmes and projects in an accountable, transparent and participatory way to ensure a maximum degree of good governance. 

The GEF-NGO Consultation is a meeting attended by NGOs, the GEF Secretariat, together with the implementing and executing agencies. Council members are also invited to attend. NGOs voice concerns, comment on policies and projects, and present positions on substantive issues.

In GEF Council meetings, NGOs can make interventions as observers. The same NGO representative that has been selected to present an intervention during the Consultation will also be responsible for presenting the intervention during the Council meeting. NGOs share their passes to attend the Council meeting, to give everyone the chance to be in the room to make the interventions and follow the discussions. The rest of the NGOs are allowed to follow the discussions through TV circuit in the observer’s room.

How fund disbursement is reported

All active SCCF projects can be viewed using the GEF project listing tool http://www.gefonline.org/, searching with SCCF as funding source.

Disbursements are also reported in twice-yearly "STATUS REPORT ON THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES FUND AND THE SPECIAL CLIMATE CHANGE FUND" reports, which can be found on the GEF website (see link above).

Issues raised by the public

According to Mitchell, Anderson and Huq (2008), the GEF has not prioritized the adaptation needs of the most vulnerable and has disproportionately funded projects in countries that have relatively low rates of poverty. The authors also list further criticisms by donors and eligible countries: 

1. The governance structures are seen by developing countries as complex and weighted in favour of donor countries;

2. The rules and structures make accessing funding difficult and time-consuming;

3. There is a lack of transparency in decision making that appears to be the prerogative of powerful individuals;

4. There is an emphasis on supporting projects rather than programmatic approaches;

5. The focus on securing environmental projects over development projects results in fewer global benefits.

Source: Mitchell, Anderson and Huq (2008). Principles for Delivering Adaptation Finance. 

In the paper “Supporting Adaptation to Climate Change: What role for Official Development Assistance?”, the authors outline several criticisms regarding the GEF LSCF and SCCF funds:

1. There are not enough funds to meet adaptation needs in developing countries

2. Donors are delaying on meeting pledged commitments because of an alleged lack of adequate and accountable mechanisms in developing countries for receiving and disbursing money

3. Unclear guidance and high transaction costs attached to GEF funding mechanisms

4. Although funding through the GEF is not formally conditional, requirements attached to funding include burdensome reporting and co-financing criteria.

5. Distinguishing ‘additional’ costs of climate change impacts from baseline development needs is extremely complex.

6. Many countries cannot afford to meet the baseline development costs so the offer of funding for the additional cost is futile.

7. Implementing agencies such as the UNDP, the UNEP and the World Bank, add further bureaucracy to the process.

8. GEF has not prioritized the adaptation needs of the most vulnerable and has disproportionately funded projects in countries that have relatively low rates of poverty

Source: Ayres and Huq (2008). Supporting Adaptation to Climate Change: What role for Official Development Assistance?. Available online at: http://www.eed.de/fix/files/doc/DSA%20conf%2008%20paper%20Ayers&Huq1.pdf