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- Member countries to consider disbursing $261 million for innovative initiatives across the Global Environment Facility’s family of funds.
- Council meetings follow the official start of the GEF Trust Fund’s ninth replenishment process. GEF-9 will start in July 2026 and run through June 2030, with timing aligned with multiple global environmental goals.
Representatives of the Global Environment Facility’s 186 member countries will meet June 2-6 to consider funding a wide-ranging work program that includes support for innovative efforts to propel biodiversity conservation, pollution remediation, and locally led environmental action with key 2030 goals in sight.
A total of $261 million is proposed for programming across the family of funds, including $195 million from the GEF Trust Fund, $40 million from the Least Developed Countries Fund, and $26 million from the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund. Each dollar of GEF funding from this set of projects is set to mobilize as much as $13 in co-financing from other sources, for a total of more than $2.6 billion.
Meeting as the GEF Council, LDCF/SCCF Council, and GBFF Council, member countries will also review progress towards global environmental goals and hear from the heads of the multilateral environmental conventions that the GEF serves, as well as from the Independent Evaluation Office and Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel.
The Council meetings follow last month’s start of the GEF-9 replenishment process, when donor countries and partners gathered in Paris to discuss priorities and ambitions for the multilateral trust fund’s next four-year funding cycle that will stretch to June 2030.
Much of the GEF’s $5.3 billion eighth replenishment has already been programmed, as a result of faster and more efficient review processes instituted as part of recent institutional reforms.
The initiatives to be considered for $195 million in funding by the GEF Council include efforts to remove toxins from cosmetic products and industrial processes, support collaboration across international waterways, and propel a variety of locally-led environmental efforts, including through microfinance.
Meeting as the LDCF/SCCF Council, government representatives will consider $40 million in funding from the Least Developed Countries Fund for planned projects in the Solomon Islands, and Uganda, as well one regional program in the Sahel countries, with a focus on Mali and Chad.
The LDCF-funded initiatives aim to enhance landscape and seascape resilience, support climate-smart agriculture, restore threatened landscapes, and promote sustainable livelihoods in vulnerable rural areas. Together, they reflect the GEF's commitment to advancing locally-led solutions that protect ecosystems, improve livelihoods, and build long-term resilience in Least Developed Countries.
The GBFF Council will consider providing $26 million for projects that support biodiversity and community well-being in Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Sangha Trinational – a forest divided between the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Congo-Brazzaville.
Council members will also review progress made over the GBFF’s first year, and discuss the IEO’s first assessment of the innovative fund, which was created in record time in response to support implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. To date, the GBFF has provided $202 million for 40 projects in 41 countries, including nine Small Island Developing States and 13 Least Developed Countries. GBFF projects are currently underway in Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico.
In the first meetings of the GEF-9 replenishment process, representatives of donor countries and partner organizations stressed the need to ensure a high level of ambition in the upcoming funding period, with a strong focus on efficiency, equity, versatility, and accessibility.
“The global environmental crisis is intensifying, but we can change this course,” said GEF CEO and Chairperson, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez. “The next four years are make-or-break for 2030 global biodiversity and other targets, and strong support for GEF-9 will be vital to help achieve them. We’ve seen good progress in Paris in this regard.”
The next formal replenishment meeting is scheduled to be held in Botswana from October 8-10, 2025. A final decision about the size and ambition of the GEF-9 funding envelope is expected to be taken in 2026.
