What to watch for across the multilateral climate funds landscape: key moments and leverage points
From new ways to speed up the application process, to more and better ways to access finance, to key changes in personnel, Clara Gallagher and Sejal Patel scan the horizon for developments within multilateral climate funds and discuss what these incoming changes might mean for improving the delivery of adaptation finance to the poorest and most climate-vulnerable people and communities.
Training workshop on accreditation to the Adaptation Fund at the 2019 Asia Pacific Climate Week (Photo: UNclimatechange, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The multilateral climate funds are navigating a period of reflection and reform. Funds are making structural changes to ease and simplify country access to climate finance – particularly around country ‘readiness’, direct access and mechanisms to support locally led adaptation (LLA) projects.
While these initiatives show promise, progress is partial, uneven and slow. A more decisive shift could be brought about through embedding equity and subsidiarity into core policies and explicitly addressing the differentiated needs and capacities of least developed countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs), across strategy, delivery and governance.
The climate funds are however having to walk a difficult line: system overhauls are highly complex processes that demand great care and iterative learning and change loops.
Looking at the largest multilateral climate funds for adaptation and resilience delivery – particularly the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Adaptation Fund (AF), but also the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) – we list below several key moments and leverage points over the next 18-24 months that represent milestones, or opportunities for leveraging change towards improved systems for the delivery of adaptation finance.
Readiness
The AF and GCF both use grants to support countries to get systems and capacities in place to more effectively access and use their financial resources.
- The GCF overhauled its readiness offering in 2024 to open new channels for direct access entities (not just the national designated authority) and moved from a yearly grant cycle to a four-year programming cycle.
- Throughout 2026 – two years after the launch of new four-yearly cycles – countries should be submitting their four-year readiness programme plans. To date, no programmes have been approved. This may be due to the complexity of designing a coherent four-year programme of work that is coordinated across many people, sectors and processes. This is a space to watch, to see how countries will embrace coherent cross-government climate planning in developing their programme plans, and if the GCF will embrace adaptive management in how they provide support.
- The Adaptation Fund is developing its new enhanced readiness strategy (PDF), following evaluation of its readiness programme. In 2026, the fund will finalise this strategy and develop an implementation plan for a more strategic, results-oriented readiness programme. The new strategy must support countries preparing to access climate finance, but have limited capacity to develop programme and accreditation proposals that suit their needs, as well as the fund’s.
Increased routes to access
- In 2026, the GCF will roll out its updated framework to improve the speed and ease of accreditation and increase support on access. The fund hopes this will help with hitting its target of 40-60 new partners a year.
- In parallel, the fund has also developed and released a locally led climate action (LLCA) framework and guidance document to support applicants to develop and submit proposals and readiness activities that support LLCA. We hope new and existing accredited entities will put this framework to the test and seize the momentum at GCF for locally-defined, designed and implemented climate action.
- The FLRD − the newest climate fund under the UNFCCC − has opened its first window, the Barbados implementing modalities. Countries have until June to prepare submissions.
- Over 2026, applicants to the AF will turn concept notes into full proposals and some may begin implementation for the AF’s three LLA windows. As the first climate fund to be so explicit in its support for LLA, there will be lots for the fund's peer organisations to learn from, plus the opportunity for the fund to hear feedback from countries on how accessible this modality has been.
- The CIFs have introduced the ARISE programme (PDF), which will support countries to prepare evidence-based investment plans that integrate climate risk considerations into national economic priorities and champion locally-led solutions, creating another route for countries to engage with concessional climate finance via the multilateral development banks.
Governance and operational changes
- There will be continued structured interaction and collaboration between the four multilateral climate funds (GCF, AF, GEF and the CIFs) on actions to improve complementarity and coherence (C&C). While they have moved away from the C&C action plan (PDF) structure for coordination, the cross-fund working groups will continue work to improve scaling of projects and coordinated funding for climate action, as well as the more external looking pieces such as joint narrative reporting (due to arrive later this year) to complement their recent joint report on results.
- The GCF is establishing a regional presence for underserved regions such as the LDCs and SIDS. Proposals for organisations to host the regional presence were considered in December 2025 and will be taken forward through 2026.
- The GEF’s search for a new chief executive officer is under way. The new chief will be joining as the fund’s eighth cycle closes and the ninth one opens.
Moments of learning
- There will be joint learning events convened under the community of practice of direct access entities to the AF and the LLA community of practice. These are excellent forums for getting into the very practical lessons learnt from applying to climate finance, and for learning what has been hard and what changes could improve access. Additionally, the AF will be organising a ‘writeshop’ on the LLA window to coincide with the 20th community-based adaptation conference in Manila (11-14 May). The alignment of these two events is no coincidence!
- The 8th GEF assembly (30 May to 6 June, Samarkand, Uzbekistan) will host eight high-level roundtables to open discussion across stakeholders on topics from ‘leading from the ground’ to climate and nature action in fragile states. Action to coordinate communities to assess and address the damage and risks they face requires financing. The GEF recently concluded its third replenishment meeting, where it sought to build agreement ahead of the assembly in May.
Replenishment
- In the first half of 2026, the AF has plans (PDF) to develop and launch a new resource mobilisation strategy and action plan to increase the fund’s ambition and advocacy ahead of its annual contributor dialogue at COP.
- The GCF begins this cycle in late 2026 for its 3rd replenishment for the period 2028-31.
- The FRLD is also looking to ‘fill the fund’ beyond the initial financing round.
These are some key moments on our radar and surely more will arise.
It will be a busy year across the funds, and hopefully one that will take forward the critically needed reforms to improve support for accreditation and access for the poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries and communities.
