NABARD inks AMA with Green Climate Fund

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has signed an Accreditation Master Agreement (AMA) with the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
With this, NABARD becomes the first Indian organisation to get Direct Access Entity status of the GCF. It is also considered as the first step for the NABARD to access GCF resources.

Background

India has laid down ambitious mitigating goals under the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) submitted in the Paris Climate agreement signed in 2015. But these goals are contingent upon receiving low-cost finance from sources like the GCF. Till now, only one project, Installation of Groundwater Recharge System in Odisha amounting to $34 million is underway using funds from GCF. Several projects have been proposed and are in the pipeline.

About Green Climate Fund (GCF)

The GCF is a fund within the framework of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.  It was formally established by a UNFCCC decision in Durban, South Africa in December 2011. It was intended to be the centrepiece of efforts to raise Climate Finance of $100 billion a year by 2020.
It is a mechanism to assist the developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change by redistributing money contributed by the developed countries. It supports projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing country Parties using thematic funding windows. The GCF is based in the new Songdo district of Incheon, South Korea. It is governed by a Board of 24 members and initially supported by a Secretariat. GCF was central to the Paris climate agreement signed in 2015.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2017