Songdo, Republic of Korea – On August 19-20, GGGI’s high-level representatives, including President and Chair, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Director-General Frank Rijsberman, and Director Mahamadou Tounkara for Strategy, Partnerships and Communications (SPC), had a two-day working visit to Songdo to take part in the GCF Global Programming Conference at the Songdo Convensia Center and hold meetings with high-level government officials for updates on GGGI’s projects and to explore future opportunities for collaboration.

GCF Global Programming Conference

During the first day of the event, Mr. Ban Ki-moon explained the dire need to continue supporting vulnerable countries and communities to access finance for climate change adaptation. He shared that we only have 10 years to curb emissions, thus mitigation and adaptation need to move together in a balanced way and investing in adaptation needs to become mainstream.

On day two of the event, Director-General Frank Rijsberman participated in a panel discussion to provide insight on investing in institutional transformation to raise climate ambitions. He shared how green growth and low-carbon development are key strategies to obtain climate finance for GGGI’s Member and partner countries.

Moreover, he provided three key messages. First, stronger GCF guidance should be able to reduce the processing time for project proposals; second, every $1 in funding from GCF represents an opportunity to leverage 5 to 10 times that amount from other sources; and third, the billions of dollars GCF holds should be utilized to move the private sector to commit trillions toward climate action.

Meeting Highlights

On the sidelines of the GCF Programming Conference, GGGI’s executives held strategic meetings with high-level representatives from GGGI’s Member and partner countries to discuss current or potential projects, including climate finance, e-mobility, green city development, among others.

Director-General, Frank Rijsberman, shared that he received a lot of positive feedback on GGGI’s support to access green and climate finance by government representatives from Burkina Faso, the Philippines, Laos PDR, Cambodia, Thailand, Ethiopia, and Jordan.

During discussions with a Lao PDR delegation, led by H.E Sommad Pholsena, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, GGGI shared ideas for potential collaboration with Lao PDR to electrify the public transport system of the Vientiane capital. In a meeting with Cambodia’s Secretary of State for Environment, H.E. Sophalleth, the topic of e-mobility also was highlighted, as GGGI is currently providing assistance to Cambodia’s GCF Readiness Proposal on e-mobility, along with green investment and sustainable city planning.

Furthermore, many possibilities for future collaboration were drawn from these meetings and the current progress of GGGI’s projects were further identified, including a discussion with Colombia’s Ambassador to Korea and Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, on plans for phase two of GGGI’s upcoming Norway-funded project; with Burkina Faso’s Environment Minister, Bassiere Batio, on GGGI’s engagement for the development of an eco-village investment program, green city guidelines, and capacity building support; and lastly, with the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines’ Vice Chairperson and Secretary, Emmanuel de Guzman, as the GGGI Philippines team is currently working together to expand bankable project origination/structuring on renewable energy, adaptation and agriculture.

Susanne Pedersen, GGGI’s Assistant Director-General for Investment and Policy Solutions and Hyoeun Jenny Kim, GGGI’s Deputy Director-General and Head of Green Growth Planning and Implementation Division met with Mr. Ilkhomjon Nematov, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, to discuss ways to implement green growth activities in Uzbekistan and assist the country gain greater access to climate finance.

Following the GCF Global Programming Conference and high-level meetings, GGGI will continue to strengthen its commitment to its Member and partner countries in the transition to green economies by helping them to gain greater access to climate finance and investment opportunities.