The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Acumen Fund today signed a Funded Activity Agreement (FAA) enabling the disbursement of funds to implement the first approved project proposal from Acumen (a private sector accredited entity), making it the first GCF project to move to this stage.

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Acumen Fund, Inc. is a non-profit global venture fund for the poor. Its mission is to change the way the world tackles poverty by investing in businesses, leaders and ideas.  Since its founding in 2001, Acumen Fund has invested $101 million, sourced from philanthropic and managed investment capital, to build nearly 100 innovative enterprises addressing the problems of poverty in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Acumen Fund is an accredited entity to GCF.

The Green Climate Fund, which was set up by 194 governments party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was given the mandate to help keep the planet’s atmospheric temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. The Fund has received pledges of over USD 10 billion equivalent, and has so far committed more than USD 420 million in climate-resilient and low-emission development investments. The GCF Board has an aspirational target to approve USD 2.5 billion of investments by the end of 2016.