Sixteen ambassadors to South Korea have established the Group of Friends of the Green Climate Fund, with the aim of sharing ideas and experiences on scaling up climate action in global and regional contexts.

The members comprise the ambassadors of Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, France, Gabon, Germany, Guatemala, India, Italy, Mongolia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand and Sweden.

The informal group is co-chaired by the ambassadors of France, Gabon and Mexico as they serve as board members of the Green Climate Fund in Korea. The membership is voluntary and open to all diplomatic missions, due to the global impact of climate change.

“The group aims to share ideas on Green Climate Fund critical to the elements of the historic Paris Agreement and the world’s largest climate fund, mandated to support developing countries raise and realize their Nationally Determined Contributions ambitions towards low emissions, climate-resilient pathways,” said an official from the French Embassy in Seoul.

Green Climate Fund, headquartered in Incheon, is currently working with more than 140 countries and operates through a network of over 100 accredited entities, delivering partners who work directly with developing countries for project design and implementation. The total value of the GCF portfolio has grown to over $30 billion.

The Group of Friends is to mobilize political support for funding to promote low-emissions, climate-resilient pathways in developing countries and to strengthen the relationship between the Green Climate Fund and diplomatic missions in Korea, creating a new channel to countries’ governments.

The GoF will also provide an informal platform to exchange ideas and experiences on scaling up climate action in global, regional and national contexts.

The launch of the GoF comes ahead of the 29th meeting of the board of the Green Climate Fund, to be held from June 28 to July 1.

Sanjay Kumar (sanjaykumar@heraldcorp.com)