In 2009, as we reported earlier, developed country Parties to the UNFCCC committed to jointly mobilize $100 billion/year by 2020 to help developing countries address their climate change needs. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) – the designated heavy lifter for this goal – was created by COP16 in 2010. Its purpose is to fund developing country efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change through “low-emission and climate-resilient development.” (See our coverage of the private sector role in the GCF here, and co-financing efforts toward the $100 billion goal here.)

The GCF, now with pledges of just $10.3 billion, became fully operational in 2015. However, as of the start of 2016, only $1.6 billion was reported actually in hand, and none of the $168 million the GCF Board approved for the first 8 projects at its November meeting had been distributed. (We reported on the U.S.’s $3 billion pledge here, the first $500 million of which has now been deposited into the Fund.)

The Fund’s goal for 2016 is to distribute $2.5 billion. Its press release also reports a package of current proposals worth $1.5 billion, with 22 projects totaling $5+ billion in the proposal pipeline. (A conflicting update from the Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) reports $6.2 billion in 124 proposals and concepts in the 2016 pipeline, including 22 that are approval ready.) In either case, that 2016 goal is a high bar.

The GCF Board made some foundational progress at its 12^th meeting in early March in Songdo, Korea, including adopting its first Strategic Plan (SP) and a 2016-2018 action plan. (The final SP had not been released as of this posting, but the draft can be found here.) It also accredited 13 new entities (some with pending status), which will bring the total accredited to 33. Additionally, the Board authorized its first Project Preparation Facility grant ($1.5 million to Rwanda). This new and evolving facility is designed to support developing country accredited entities in creating highly fundable projects.

The Green Climate Fund has its critics. Hallway talk at COP20 in Lima buzzed about the potentially reckless pace UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres had set for the Fund’s scaling up. Governance questions arose soon after. Now, Small Island Developing States and others are facing onerous and highly bureaucratic accreditation hurdles for accessing it. Leading up to the March meeting, civil society voiced strong objections to the limited meeting access, and to the potential accreditation of international banking giants HSBC and Crédit Agricole.

Unfortunately, the Board’s emerging accreditation strategy, intended to address concerns, wasn’t ready for prime time by the March meeting. In related action, the Board awarded pending accreditation to HSBC and Crédit Agricole – both with substantive conditions to be met before final approval. One of these for HSBC, according to APMDD, is getting a positive report from the U.S. federal monitor’s review of the corporation’s money laundering reforms. (That report’s release is currently delayed until a federal appeals court ruling). Interested readers can find the accreditation assessments in appendices of the report of the Board’s decisions.

On a definite positive note, after considerable discussion, the Board ultimately agreed to live webcasting of its meetings in an 18-month experiment, beginning in June

As the GCF story unfolds, let’s hope for lots of transparency and lots of pledges turning to lots of cash. The developing world is counting on it.