Why linking the CDM with the GCF is a good idea

While the CDM has been suffering from neglect in recent years, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has been prospering. We make a case for combining the strengths of both institutions in order to reach the scale necessary to deliver on the ambitions outlined in the Paris Agreement. The GCF is poised to become the key UNFCCC vehicle for large-scale, public international climate finance, but it is still at an early stage of its institutional evolution and could benefit from approaches that have been developed under the UNFCCC’s CDM over the past decade. We argue that linking the two institutions could strengthen the results-based focus of climate finance, help leverage private capital, and pave the way for future demand for carbon offsets, both pre-2020 and under the Paris Agreement.