We’ve just published our 32nd GCF insight report titled: People, not just projects: strengthening health, WASH and social protection systems through GCF climate finance.
Climate change is eroding the very systems people depend on to survive and recover: their health services, their water and sanitation, and the social protection that catches them when shocks arrive. However, the financing response has not matched the need. Only 0.5 per cent of multilateral climate finance has reached health systems (WHO, 2023), and within the GCF, health, WASH and social protection have tended to sit at the margins of a portfolio that favours hard infrastructure.
This 32nd GCF insight examines how climate finance can more deliberately support resilience across this interconnected nexus. It explores how health systems, WASH, and adaptive social protection are currently treated in GCF programming, what the evolving policy environment means for project design, and why a people-centred investment pathway is both justified by the evidence and demanded by the scale of need. It also highlights what inclusion requires in practice for women, Indigenous Peoples, climate migrants and refugees, and communities living in fragile, conflict-affected, and informal settlement contexts.
Drawing on E Co’s consultancy experience, a desk review of GCF policy and the GCF-FAO 2025 joint review, case studies spanning Togo, Vanuatu, Mozambique, and Central and West Asia, and in-depth interviews with practitioners across GCF-accredited entities, Direct Access Entities, and the GCF Secretariat, the report sets out how the Fund can move from ad hoc engagement with these areas toward an integrated, measurable, people-centred strategy.
Download your 32nd GCF insight report here.
About GCF insight
This survey and report is an initiative of E Co, and emerges from work we are doing to accelerate low-carbon climate-resilient development. The E Co. team designed and administered a survey which was used to inform and prepare this report. We also explored four case studies, based on projects our Consulting team had previously worked on, for a more in-depth understanding of issues and solutions. E Co. conducted this research independently and is not affiliated with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the GCF Secretariat, or donors. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not represent those of the GCF. Nothing in the interviews or any information or material relating thereto shall be construed as implying any official endorsement of, or responsibility on, the part of the GCF.
About E Co.
E Co. is a leading climate finance and development consultancy headquartered in London, based globally. We provide consulting support to access climate finance from the GCF (and other funds and donors) across several service areas, including: market assessment, strategy formulation, policy development, monitoring and evaluation, fund support and training. However, we may be best known for our programme and project design services in response to the Fund’s criteria and processes.