{
  "id": "R41889",
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      "id": 437872,
      "date": "2015-02-02",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T22:48:23.036956",
      "title": "International Climate Change Financing: The Green Climate Fund (GCF)",
      "summary": "Over the past several decades, the United States has delivered financial and technical assistance for climate change activities in the developing world through a variety of bilateral and multilateral programs. The United States and other industrialized countries committed to such assistance through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, Treaty Number: 102-38, 1992), the Copenhagen Accord (2009), and the UNFCCC Cancun Agreements (2010), wherein the higher-income countries pledged jointly up to $30 billion in \u201cfast start\u201d climate financing for lower-income countries for the period 2010-2012, and a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020. The Cancun Agreements also proposed that the pledged funds are to be new, additional to previous flows, adequate, predictable, and sustained, and are to come from a wide variety of sources, both public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.\nOne potential mechanism for mobilizing a share of the proposed international climate financing is the UNFCCC Green Climate Fund (GCF), proposed during the 2009 Conference of Parties (COP) in Copenhagen, Denmark, accepted by Parties during the 2011 COP in Durban, South Africa, and made operational in the summer of 2014. The fund aims to assist developing countries in their efforts to combat climate change through the provision of grants and other concessional financing for mitigation and adaptation projects, programs, policies, and activities. The GCF is capitalized by contributions from donor countries and other sources, potentially including innovative mechanisms and the private sector. The GCF currently complements many of the existing multilateral climate change funds (e.g., the Global Environment Facility, the Climate Investment Funds, and the Adaptation Fund); however, as the official financial mechanism of the UNFCCC, some Parties believe that it may eventually replace or subsume the other funds.\nThe GCF was made operational in the summer of 2014. Parties have pledged approximately $10 billion for the initial capitalization of the fund. The Obama Administration announced a pledge of $3 billion over four years during the G-20 meetings in Australia on November 15, 2014. The Administration\u2019s FY2016 budget requested $500 million for the fund. Notwithstanding these financial pledges, some operational details remain to be clarified. They include what role the GCF would play in providing sustained finance at scale, how it would fit into the existing development assistance and climate financing architecture, whether sources beyond public funding would successfully contribute to it, and how it would allocate and deliver assistance efficiently and effectively to developing countries.\nThe U.S. Congress\u2014through its role in authorizations, appropriations, and oversight\u2014would have significant input on U.S. participation in the GCF. Congress regularly determines and gives guidance to the allocation of foreign aid between bilateral and multilateral assistance as well as among the variety of multilateral mechanisms. In the past, Congress has raised concerns regarding the cost, purpose, direction, efficiency, and effectiveness of the UNFCCC and existing international institutions of climate financing. Potential authorizations and appropriations for the GCF may rest with several committees, including the U.S. House of Representatives Committees on Foreign Affairs, Financial Services, and Appropriations, and the U.S. Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Appropriations. Appropriations for foreign aid are generally provided through the U.S. Administration\u2019s State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs 150 account.",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc491086/",
      "id": "R41889_2014Nov17",
      "date": "2014-12-03",
      "retrieved": "2015-01-27T19:40:46",
      "title": "International Climate Change Financing: The Green Climate Fund (GCF)",
      "summary": "This report discusses United States commitments for climate change through financial and technical assistance and multilateral programs.",
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          "id": "Climatic changes",
          "name": "Climatic changes"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Global warming",
          "name": "Global warming"
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          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Greenhouse effect",
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          "id": "International affairs",
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      "id": "R41889_2014May05",
      "date": "2014-05-05",
      "retrieved": "2014-07-08T21:53:44",
      "title": "International Climate Change Financing: The Green Climate Fund (GCF)",
      "summary": "This report discusses United States commitments for climate change through financial and technical assistance and multilateral programs.",
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          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Climatic changes",
          "name": "Climatic changes"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Global warming",
          "name": "Global warming"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Greenhouse effect",
          "name": "Greenhouse effect"
        }
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc463060/",
      "id": "R41889_2013Apr16",
      "date": "2013-04-16",
      "retrieved": "2014-12-05T09:57:41",
      "title": "International Climate Change Financing:  The Green Climate Fund (GCF)",
      "summary": "This report discusses the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which aims to assist developing countries in their efforts to combat climate change through the provision of grants and other concessional financing for mitigation and adaptation projects, programs, policies, and activities.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
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      "topics": [
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          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Global climate change",
          "name": "Global climate change"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Air pollution",
          "name": "Air pollution"
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        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Finance",
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      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83973/",
      "id": "R41889_2011Dec12",
      "date": "2011-12-12",
      "retrieved": "2012-04-27T15:49:45",
      "title": "International Climate Change Financing: The Green Climate Fund (GCF)",
      "summary": "The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, Treaty Number: 102-38, 1992), the Copenhagen Accord (2009), and the UNFCCC Cancun Agreements (2010), wherein the higher-income countries pledged jointly up to $30 billion of \"fast start\" climate financing for lower-income countries for the period 2010-2012, and a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020. The Cancun Agreements also proposed that the pledged funds are to be new, additional to previous flows, adequate, predictable, and sustained, and are to come from a wide variety of sources, both public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.",
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      "topics": [
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          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Climatic changes",
          "name": "Climatic changes"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Global warming",
          "name": "Global warming"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Greenhouse effect",
          "name": "Greenhouse effect"
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      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc93884/",
      "id": "R41889_2011Jun23",
      "date": "2011-06-23",
      "retrieved": "2012-07-24T12:39:36",
      "title": "International Climate Change Financing: The Green Climate Fund (GCF)",
      "summary": "The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, Treaty Number: 102-38, 1992), the Copenhagen Accord (2009), and the UNFCCC Cancun Agreements (2010), wherein the higher-income countries pledged jointly up to $30 billion of \"fast start\" climate financing for lower-income countries for the period 2010-2012, and a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020. The Cancun Agreements also proposed that the pledged funds are to be new, additional to previous flows, adequate, predictable, and sustained, and are to come from a wide variety of sources, both public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.",
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      "topics": [
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          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Climatic changes",
          "name": "Climatic changes"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Global warming",
          "name": "Global warming"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Greenhouse effect",
          "name": "Greenhouse effect"
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  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Foreign Affairs"
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}