Press Release

GGGI Granted Observer Status to Green Climate Fund

Photo: NASA Goddard

SONGDO, Republic of Korea—January 17, 2014—The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) was accredited today as an observer organization to the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Based in Songdo, the GCF is a multilateral Fund whose mission is to make a significant contribution to the global efforts toward attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change.

“We are pleased to be granted observer status to the Green Climate Fund and hope that it will be the beginning of a fruitful association,” said GGGI Director-General Howard Bamsey. “As an organization working for green growth and action on climate change in developing countries, GGGI looks forward to the obvious opportunities for synergy and cooperation with the Fund.”

As an accredited observer organization, GGGI is eligible to register participants to attend as observers at meetings of GCF’s Board.

GCF was agreed by Parties at the 2010 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference held in Cancun, Mexico, and designated as an operating entity of the Convention’s financial mechanism.

As a new international organization with a focus on developing countries, GGGI contributes in concrete ways toward the objectives and frameworks established by the UN and other international bodies in the areas of sustainable development and poverty reduction, including UNFCCC and the Millennium Development Goals.

GGGI works with developing countries and emerging economies on promoting sustainable  development and poverty reduction in the context of transitioning toward a green economy. GGGI helps partner countries to benefit from international funding sources that support investments in a green economy, including the GCF and other climate financing mechanisms.

GGGI’s accreditation with GCF follows the December 2013 adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution granting GGGI observer status. The status gives GGGI the right to speak at UN General Assembly meetings and sponsor and sign resolutions. GGGI will also be able to cast procedural votes. Observers are not allowed to vote on resolutions.

In June 2013 GGGI was granted Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligibility status by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC).  GGGI also gains intergovernmental (IGO) observer status at sessions of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) in Warsaw, Poland in November 2013.

GGGI’s planned liaison office in Songdo will be housed in the same building as the GCF, which opened its headquarters there in a ceremony on December 4, 2013.

See also the Green Climate Fund’s website for more information.

About GGGI

GGGI is a treaty-based international organization dedicated to developing and diffusing a new paradigm of economic growth – green growth – which balances economic performance and environmental sustainability to help build strong and inclusive societies. Twenty countries have joined GGGI.  Headquartered in Seoul, GGGI works in long-term partnership with developing and emerging economies through rigorous green growth planning, research and public-private cooperation. To learn more, see www.gggi.org.