Recommendations and Tools for Optimal Green Climate Fund (GCF) Access for SMEs

This report formulates strategic recommendations and tools for optimal access to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh.

While Bangladesh allocates approximately $1.2 billion annually to tackle climate change impacts through green and climate finance, the estimated financing need to adequately address its climate vulnerabilities is significantly higher, around $8.5 billion per year. This challenge is further exacerbated for groups of the population and sectors of the economy who are considered the most vulnerable, who are struggling to access green and climate finance even more.

As pressure to increase leverage, scarce donor resources intensify in an environment of reducing green and climate finance availability, private sector solutions and the utilization of the local financial network in developing countries are becoming more prominent options. This, however, raises issues of access to finance more generally, as access to finance is a precondition for access to climate finance, where it is channeled through local financial institutions.