The Conference of the Parties,
Noting the draft guidance to the Global Environment Facility prepared by the Standing Committee on Finance
1. Welcomes the report of the Global Environment Facility to the Conference of the Parties and its addendum, including the responses of the Global Environment Facility to guidance from the Conference of the Parties;
2. Also welcomes the seventh replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (July 2018 to June 2022);
3. Recognizes with concern the decrease in allocation to the climate change focal area, including the System for Transparent Allocation of Resources, compared with the sixth replenishment;
4. Urges all Parties that have not made pledges for the seventh replenishment of the Global Environment Facility to do so as soon as possible;
5. Acknowledges the increased integration of climate change priorities into other focal areas and the impact programmes in the seventh replenishment of the Global Environment Facility, as well as the increased focus on innovation and enhanced synergies with other focal areas;
6. Highlights the importance of enhancing country ownership in the impact programmes of the seventh replenishment of the Global Environment Facility;
7. Requests the Global Environment Facility, as appropriate, to ensure that its policies and procedures related to the consideration and review of funding proposals be duly followed in an efficient manner;
8. Looks forward to the projected delivery of greenhouse gas emission reductions in the seventh replenishment period, which is twice the amount planned for the sixth replenishment;
9. Acknowledges the updated policy on co-financing of the Global Environment Facility, which sets out an ambition for the overall portfolio of the Global Environment Facility to reach an increased ratio of co-financing to its project financing;
10. Recognizes that the Global Environment Facility does not impose minimum thresholds and/or specific types or sources of co-financing or investment mobilized in its review of individual projects and programmes;
11. Welcomes the inclusion of support for the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency in the seventh replenishment of the Global Environment Facility, which enhances predictability of funding for the Initiative;
12. Requests the Global Environment Facility to continue to manage the Capacitybuilding Initiative for Transparency to fund a diversity of countries and regions, taking into account each country’s capacity, in line with priorities of support as contained in the programming directions of the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency; 1
3. Invites the Global Environment Facility to enhance the information in its reports to the Conference of the Parties on the outcomes of the collaboration between the Poznan strategic programme on technology transfer’s climate technology and finance centres and the Climate Technology Centre and Network;
14. Requests the Global Environment Facility to continue to monitor the geographic and thematic coverage, as well as the effectiveness, efficiency and engagement, of the Global Environment Facility Partnership, and to consider the participation of additional national and regional entities, as appropriate;
15. Welcomes the establishment of the private sector advisory group;
16. Encourages a balanced composition of the private sector advisory group in terms of gender and geographical coverage;
17. Welcomes the Global Environment Facility Council’s decision6 to begin the process of developing improved fiduciary standards, including anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism finance policy and requests the Global Environment Facility to include updates on this work in its report to the Conference of the Parties at its twenty-fifth session (November 2019);
18. Requests the Global Environment Facility to review and, if necessary, update or adopt policies for preventing sexual harassment and the abuse of authority with the aim of protecting the staff of the Global Environment Facility secretariat as well as its partner organizations against unwanted sexual advances, preventing inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power and providing guidelines for reporting incidents;
19. Invites Parties to submit to the secretariat via the submission portal, 7 no later than 10 weeks prior to the twenty-fifth session of the Conference of the Parties, their views and recommendations on elements to be taken into account in developing guidance for the Global Environment Facility;
20. Requests the Standing Committee on Finance to take into consideration the submissions referred to in paragraph 19 above when preparing its draft guidance for the Global Environment Facility for consideration by the Conference of the Parties;
21. Also requests the Global Environment Facility to include in its annual report to the Conference of the Parties information on the steps that it has taken to implement the guidance provided in this decision;
22. Decides, in accordance with decision 1/CP.21, paragraph 61, to transmit to the Global Environment Facility the guidance from the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement contained in the decisions referred to in decision 3/CMA.1,8 paragraph 4.
