Climate Funds Pledge Tracker
Keep track of pledges to U.N. funds that help developing countries reduce greenhouse emissions and address the impacts of climate change.
In 2023, we launched a pledge tracker at the COP28 United Nations climate negotiations to keep up with new pledges to U.N. climate funds. We continue to periodically update the tracker with new pledges.
Debates about funding are always a major feature of United Nations climate negotiations. The big injustice of the climate crisis is that the poorest and most vulnerable communities—who have done the least to cause the problem and have least capacity to address it—are hit first and worst by the impacts.
In an effort to help address this, in the U.N. climate-negotiating process governments have created a number of multilateral funds that pool contributions from many contributors and provide dedicated support to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the impacts of climate change.
We track pledges to five dedicated climate funds created under the U.N. climate convention. Below we explain briefly what each fund does and tally pledges over recent years.
Adaptation Fund
The Adaptation Fund was created in 2001 and began approving funding for projects in 2009. As the name suggests, it focuses on climate adaptation. All developing countries are eligible for funding, and it pioneered the concept of direct access: allowing developing country institutions to receive funding without having to go through financial intermediaries. It accepts pledges on a rolling basis, but COPs are usually where most pledges are made.
As of the end of 2024, the Adaptation Fund had received $1.7 billion in cumulative pledges from 26 countries. In addition, this fund receives funding from innovative sources: 2 percent of the proceeds from carbon trading under the Kyoto Protocol are channeled to the fund, which has raised an additional $217 million. It will also receive 5 percent of the proceeds from the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4 carbon-crediting mechanism, and countries using the Article 6.2 cooperative approaches are strongly encouraged to contribute to the fund. Lastly, the Adaptation Fund can accept private contributions, including through its website, where anyone with a credit card can make a donation.
In 2023 and 2024, the fund fell short of its $300 million annual fundraising target; it has the same target in 2025, and a key question will be whether donors can hit this goal.
Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage
At COP27, governments agreed to create a new entity, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), to help particularly vulnerable developing countries to address loss and damage arising from climate change. Governments formally established the fund on the first day of COP28 in November 2023. Following its adoption, a number of governments immediately stepped forward to make pledges to the FRLD.
The fact that pledges came in so quickly when it was established at COP reflects a widely shared desire to get the fund working as soon as possible. In addition to pledges from governments, the fund is also able to accept funding from private entities and innovative sources.
As of March 26, 2025, the FRLD had received $768.4 million in pledges from 27 countries.
Least Developed Countries Fund
Like the Adaptation Fund, the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) was also created in 2001 and has a similarly intuitive name: It provides support for adaptation solely for least developed countries, the 46 poorest countries in the world. It is operated by the Global Environment Facility.
As of March 31, 2025, the LDCF had received $2.3 billion in pledges from 28 countries.
Special Climate Change Fund
The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) rounds out the class of funds created in 2001. It has four financing windows: a) adaptation to climate change; b) technology transfer; c) mitigation in selected sectors including energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry, and waste management; and d) economic diversification of fossil fuel–dependent countries. SCCF-C and SCCF-D have received no contributions. Like the LDCF, it is operated by the Global Environment Facility.
As of March 31, 2025, the SCCF had received $487 million in cumulative pledges from 16 countries.
Green Climate Fund
Created in 2010, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the largest multilateral climate fund in the world dedicated to climate change. It provides both adaptation and mitigation funding to developing countries and began approving projects in 2015.
The GCF operates on four-year replenishment cycles: After an initial capitalization in 2014, its first replenishment took place in 2019, and the second replenishment was in 2023. The GCF raised $12.8 billion in pledges from 33 countries last year toward its second replenishment, but in January 2025, the United States rescinded its $3 billion pledge.
The GCF has received a cumulative total of $30 billion in pledges from 48 countries. While the next replenishment year is not until 2027, the GCF accepts pledges on a continuous basis, and we will keep track of any new pledges announced at NRDC’s dedicated GCF Pledge Tracker.
This resource was originally published in November 2023 and has since been updated with new information and links.
Related Resources
Multilateral Development Banks’ Clean Electricity Finance
Climate Finance Commitments Tracker
