GCF insight #32

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.

E Co. bites | How do you ensure a project is country-driven and locally led?

E Co. bites | Series 4   Welcome to our 4th series of E Co. bites! We share short and easily digestible climate finance explainers, technical lessons, and more about us, our work, and how you can support our mission. Ensuring that climate projects are embraced and led by the communities they serve starts with […]

E Co. bites | What does ‘Connected’ at E Co. mean to you?

E Co. bites | Series 4   Welcome to our 4th series of E Co. bites! We share short and easily digestible climate finance explainers, technical lessons, and more about us, our work, and how you can support our mission. Our founder and climate finance expert, Grant, shares how E Co. bridges the gap between […]

E Co. bites | Programme and project design

E Co. bites | Series 4   Welcome to our 4th series of E Co. bites! We share short and easily digestible climate finance explainers, technical lessons, and more about us, our work, and how you can support our mission. Our Senior consultant, Clare delves into the multifaceted barriers that hinder climate action and how […]

E Co. bites | What is E Co’s vision?

E Co. bites | Series 4   Welcome to our 4th series of E Co. bites! We share short and easily digestible climate finance explainers, technical lessons, and more about us, our work, and how you can support our mission. In this first episode, our founder, Dr. Grant Ballard-Tremeer, shares our vision: a world sustainably […]

Replay kit | GCF B.39 unpacked

Welcome to your GCF B.39 video replay kit. Thank you very much to all our participants who joined our recent debrief on the outcomes of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) 39th Meeting of the Board (B.39) and the insights from our 26th GCF Insight Report on designing projects for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). For […]