Global Climate Change Alliance
Summary
The Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) is an initiative of the European Union. Its overall objective is to build a new alliance on climate change between the European Union and the poor developing countries that are most affected and that have the least capacity to deal with climate change. The GCCA works through the European Commission’s established channels for political dialogue and cooperation at national and international level. In 2015, GCCA entereda new phase by becoming the flagship initiative Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+). New features and a strategic orientation towards supporting the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals characterise this new phase.
Basic Description
Name of the Fund | The Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), now called the Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+) | ||
---|---|---|---|
Official Fund Website | http://www.gcca.eu/ | ||
Date Created |
|
||
Proposed Life of Fund | GCCA – 2008-2015
GCCA+ – 2015-undetermined (as of December 2020, GCCA+ is still operational and expanding). |
||
Objectives | The Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) was launched in 2007 by the European Commission to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on climate change between the European Union (EU) and developing countries most vulnerable to climate change, in particular Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which are hardest hit by the adverse effects of climate change.
Following the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015, the now GCCA+ initiative has expanded to include middle-income countries and supporting the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Originally focused on adaptation and resilience building, since 2017 the mandate of GCCA+ has been extended to include mitigation activities. The GCCA/GCCA+ acts as a platform for dialogue and exchange of experience between the EU and developing countries on climate policy and on practical approaches to integrate climate change into development policies and budgets with discussions taking place at global, regional and national levels. The GCCA/GCCA+ also provides technical and financial support to partner countries to integrate climate change into their development policies and budgets, and to implement projects that address climate change on the ground, promoting climate-resilient, low-emission development. Technical and financial cooperation, in turn, inform political dialogue and exchange of experience at regional and global levels. The ten GCCA/GCCA+ priority areas are:
The eight sectors in which GCCA/GCCA+ operates are:
|
||
Financial inputs and fund size | The GCCA/GCCA+ budget amounts to EUR 750 million for the period 2007 – 2020. This includes contributions by the EU of EUR 737.5 million (with EUR 317.5 million contributed by the EU in the first phase (2007-14) and EUR 420 million contributed by the EU in the second phase (2015-20)).
The following actors contributed to the first phase: the Development Cooperation Instrument (EUR 242.5 mio), five EU member states (Ireland, Sweden, Estonia, Cyprus and the Czech Republic – EUR 37.5 mio) and the 10th European Development Fund (EUR 37.5 mio). The contributors to the second phase are: the Development Cooperation Instrument (EUR 350 mio), and the 11th European Development Fund (EUR 70 mio). The Fund targets least developed and developing countries, as well as middle-income countries (many of them SIDS) that are recipients of aid in line with the official OECD Development Assistance Committee List of Official Development Assistance Recipients and the United Nations list of SIDS. |
||
Activities Supported | The GCCA was started as a global alliance, involving a wide range of partners across the world with a focus on helping the most vulnerable developing countries to more effectively address the challenges associated with climate change. From its onset, the GCCA supported activities with an emphasis on dialogue and cooperation.
Now operating as GCCA+, its main activities are:
At the regional level, GCCA+ supports multi-country programmes either to complement existing country interventions or when the small size of a state makes it ill-equipped to deal with such challenges alone. The GCCA+ offers its partner countries technical assistance through two support facilities. The EU GCCA+ Support Facility (SF) assists the European Commission in identifying, formulating, managing and monitoring EU GCCA+ programmes, as well as providing technical assistance for capacity building, knowledge management and communications services. The facility offers a variety of technical support services to EU GCCA programmes and beneficiaries. The Intra-ACP EU GGCA+ Climate Support Facility offers direct technical assistance to participants in the Intra-ACP GCCA+ Programme (separately funded with EUR 70 million), which supports member states of the EU-funded initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) to tackle climate change as a challenge to their development. GCCA/GCCA+ technical support is provided in five priority areas:
The GCCA/GCCA+ financial support can be disaggregated as follows (with many programmes supporting multiple areas): 81% of funding supports adaptation, 57% of funding supports mainstreaming activities, 25% of funding supports REDD, 19% of funding provides support for disaster risk reduction and 10% supports activities under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). |
Administrating Organization
Secretariat or Administrative Unit | The European Commission’s Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (EuropeAid) manages the overall implementation of the GCCA+ initiative. It works through the Delegations of the European Union to third countries around the world. These Delegations support the preparation, approval and monitoring of GCCA+ funded programmes.
The organigram of the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development can be found at:https://ec.europa.eu/international-partnerships/system/files/organisation-chart_en.pdf The Intra-ACP GCCA+ Programme is coordinated and governed separately by the ACP Secretariat located in Brussels, Belgium. |
---|---|
Trustee | The European Union acts as the permanent trustee. |
Fund Finance and Access Modalities
Conditions and Eligibility Requirements | The GCCA/GCCA+ provides support to poor developing countries most vulnerable to climate change, particularly the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Development States (SIDS), as well as for middle-income countries and supports them in the implementation of their NDCs.
Expressions of interest for EU GCCA+ funding must meet certain eligibility criteria, which are taken into account during the EuropeAid screening of proposals submitted by EU Delegations, such as, among others:
There is also the possibility of supporting a regional approach, when deemed more appropriate than a country approach (e.g. due to the small size of the countries) and if the absorptive capacities of the regional organisations allow it. Funding levels are then decided on case by case based on needs, absorptive capacities and availability of resources. In addition, training and technical assistance services related to climate change are available. |
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Accessing the Fund |
|
||||||
Safeguards, Gender and Indigenous Peoples |
|
Fund Governance
Decision Making Structure | European Commission – The European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (EuropeAid) drives and oversees the overall implementation of the GCCA+ initiative. It works closely with the Delegations of the European Union to third countries around the world and the Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG-CLIMA).
Within EuropeAid, the unit in charge of the management of the EU GCCA+ flagship programme is the Unit C6 “Sustainable Energy and Climate Change”. This unit consults European Union Delegations and geographic units (i.e., climate focal persons and geo-coordinators) to decide on the final list of programmes funded each year. |
---|---|
Accountability Mechanisms | Within the fund, the GCCA+ Results Framework and the GCCA+ M&E strategy provide information needed to “guide decision making and resources management, and to keep track of quantifiable results pursued through a GCCA+ project in partner countries and regions”. The evaluation of GCCA+ actions allows to: (a) measure GCCA+ contribution to DEVCO actions in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals, (b) provide an overview of GCCA+ achievements at country level and across GCCA+ targeted countries, and (c) collect and provide select information on the overall performance of the EU GCCA+ flagship initiative.
The last independent evaluation, then assessing GCCA, was presented in 2014 by the Euronet Consortium. Among the main conclusions of the report are:
|
Participation of Observers and Stakeholders | EU Member States EU Member State development agencies are involved as partners in GCCA/GCCA+ national programmes. Partner countries Regional organisations International organisations Civil Society organisations To find out about opportunities interested parties can check whether there is a GCCA-funded intervention in their country from the section on technical and financial support of the GCCA/GCCA+ website and if interested can get in touch with the organisation in charge of implementing the programme or the EU Delegation. |
Transparency and Information Disclosure | The financial status of the GCCA/GCCA+ is in part available on the GCCA+ website.
GCCA+ Collaborative Platform is a repository of all the programmes documents. It is managed by the GCCA+ Support Facility. Registration is required to access the platform. However, an overview and some information about individual GCCA/GCCA+ programmes, including funding amounts is available on the GCCA+ website. To our knowledge, GCCA/GCCA+ does not have a formal policy on information disclosure. |
Other Issues Raised |