GEF collects $3.9 billion ahead of funding deadline, $1 billion below previous budget

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the multilateral fund that provides climate and nature finance to developing countries, has raised $3.9 billion from government donors in its latest pledge session ahead of a key fundraising deadline at the end of May.

The amount, which is intended to cover the fund’s activities for the next four years (July 2026-June 2030), is a significant drop from the previous four-year cycle in which the GEF managed to raise $5.3 billion from governments. Since then, military and other political priorities have squeezed rich nations’ budgets for climate and development aid.

One of the facilities said statement that he expects more commitments ahead of the final supply package, which is set for approval at the next GEF Council meeting from May 31 to June 3.

Claude Gascon, interim director general of the GEF, said that “donor countries have risen to the challenge and made bold commitments for a more positive future for the planet”. He added that the pledges send a message: “The world does not give up on nature even in times of competing priorities.”

Donors under pressure

But Brian O’Donnell, director of the environmental non-profit Campaign for Nature, said the ad showed a “worrying trend” of government donors cutting public funding for climate and nature.

“Wealthy nations pledged to increase international nature finance, yet we are seeing cuts and lower contributions. Investing in nature prevents extinctions and supports livelihoods, security, health, food, clean water and climate,” he said. “Protecting nature now will have much higher costs later.”

At COP29 in Baku, developed countries pledged to mobilize $300 billion a year in public climate finance by 2035, while at the UN biodiversity talks they pledged to raise $30 billion a year by 2030. However, several wealthy governments have announced cuts in green funding to increase defense spending, among them. the last one is the United Kingdom.

As for the US, despite Trump’s cuts to international climate funding, Congress accepted The $150 million increase in the contribution to the GEF comes after the organization described it as “refocusing on non-climate priorities such as biodiversity, plastics and ocean ecosystems, in line with US Treasury guidance”.

The installation will reveal how much each country has committed to when the 186-nation assembly meets in early June. Last time biggest donors They were Germany ($575 million), Japan ($451 million) and the USA ($425 million).

The GEF has also undergone a leadership change in the middle of the fundraising cycle. Last December, asked the GEF Council Former CEO Carlos Manuel Rodriguez stepped down with immediate effect and appointed Gascon as interim CEO.

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New guidelines

As part of the next funding cycle, the GEF has adopted a set of guidelines for spending the $3.9 billion raised so far, which includes allocating 35% of resources to least developed countries and small island states, as well as 20% of the money targeted at indigenous peoples and communities.

Its programs will help countries change five key systems (nature, food, urban planning, energy and health) from models that encourage degradation to alternatives that protect the planet and support human well-being by integrating the value of nature into production and consumption systems.

The new priorities also include the target of 25% of the GEF budget to mobilize private funds through blended financing. This is in line with efforts by rich countries to increase private sector contributions to international climate finance.

German State Secretary for Economic Cooperation and Development Niels Annen said statement that the country’s priorities are “very well reflected” in the new GEF spending guidelines, including “innovative financing for nature and people, better cooperation with the private sector and stable resources for the most vulnerable countries”.

Aliou Mustafa, also from the GEF Indigenous Peoples Advisory Group (IPAG), welcomed the announcement, adding that “GEF is strengthening trust and meaningful partnerships with indigenous peoples and local communities” by putting them “at the center of decision-making”.