Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 25, 2026 – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) organized a Finance for Forests (F4F) Project Inception Phase Restitution Meeting for the primary project governance stakeholders, including representatives of the Project Advisory Committee to be chaired by the European Union Delegation (EUD) to Mongolia and the National Forest Agency (NFA) under the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC), as well as representatives from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industries (MOFALI), and the European Commission Forests for the Future Facility, the project’s principle donor.

During the meeting, GGGI presented an overview of the F4F project Mongolia inception report brief, which outlines the national policy forest and policy context, the prioritization of forest finance needs and solutions, the mapping of key project stakeholders, and the governance framework and operational plans for the project implementation during 2026 to 2029.  The brief was developed through an extensive consultation process comprising 32 bilateral stakeholder meetings and GGGI participation in 10 national stakeholder consultation workshops.

Key stakeholders affirmed strong support for the prioritized forest finance solutions presented, including strengthening national systems for Results-Based Financing (RBF) of the Forestry Sector and for Protected Areas, and support for development of a commercial Forest SME Blended Finance Facility (FSBFF). Additional potential areas were identified in Green Taxonomies, Protected Area Concession financing models, and Import taxes/duties and standard setting for Processed Wood Products.

Stakeholders also highlighted the significance of Mongolia’s ongoing legal reform agenda, encompassing the Laws and By-laws on Forestry, Sustainable Natural Resources Use, Protected Areas, Climate Change, and the National Green Taxonomy, which is expected to create new legally mandated mechanisms for stimulating forest finance. The F4F project will develop a more targeted elaboration of these interventions once the reforms have been formally adopted, anticipated by the end of 2026.

Regarding the RBF solutions, F4F project aims to enhance the strategic targeting of and efficient use of Natural Resource Use Fees (NRUF) by strengthening the government’s definition of credible and useable metrics and technologies for planning and monitoring achievement of intended outcomes, and to increase the evidence base for potential efforts to increase NRUF revenue collection overall. Key synergies and complementarities were identified with ongoing activities, including the Mongolia Nature Legacy Foundation (MNLF) and the UNDP BIOFIN program were identified as well as EU Global Gateway partners like STREAM+ by GIZ and FAO.

Regarding the FSBFF, the F4F project has identified several interested national commercial finance institutions, two national forest finance platforms (MNLF and 1 Billion Tree Fund and government-driven concessional finance facilities offering diverse entry points for financing forestry-related SMEs across subsectors. Strong complementarity has also been identified with ongoing Technical Assistance from EU Global Gateway partners including  the Stream+ project and KFW, and FAO. In addition, this intervention design shows strong potential for integration of the FSBFF with the concessional co-financing under the Euro 220 million EIB-EU-GoM Forest Investment Loan Program, as well as synergies the EU-funded Global Green Bond Initiative (GGBI) and Luxembourg-funded Global Trust Fund for Sustainable Finance.

As a cross-cutting theme, key stakeholders underscored the importance of the F4F project’s workstreams on standardized metrics and institutional MRV systems, with capacity building identified as a priority across national and subnational institutions. The project will provide targeted support for regulatory reforms and the enhancement of subnational reporting systems. Participants highlighted the need for technical assistance to strengthen institutional capacities at both levels, noting the project’s importance in enabling the National Forest Agency, the MECC Departments of Protected Areas and Sustainable Natural Resource Use, and the MOFALI Department of SMEs and Light Industries to achieve their priority policy objectives.

This meeting affirmed the MECC’s endorsement of the proposed PAC governance structure and prioritized first year workplan milestones, formally concluding the project inception phase consultation process.