Installing solar panels, biking to work, switching to sustainable agriculture, buying clothes second-hand instead of new -- what do all these have in common? For one, these are all measures that could help save money and mitigate climate change. These also require individuals and institutions to change their behavior.

Both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy…

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established in 1992 to finance multiple international environmental conventions, with projects addressing one convention at a time. In 2014, increased awareness of the interconnectedness of today's environmental problems led the GEF to introduce an integrated approach. This major reform aimed to address the main drivers of global environmental degradation and deliver benefits across the conventions.

Since its introduction, the integrated approach has gained increasing prominence. More than $1 billion has now been allocated for integrated…

When it comes to making the private sector more environmentally sustainable, we don't usually think of the millions of small businesses—better known as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)— that dominate private sector activity in developing markets.

In the 2021 Evaluation of GEF Engagement with Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), we put a spotlight on how the GEF has worked with MSMEs in the last 30 years. We looked at a portfolio of 158 completed projects where MSMEs could clearly be identified as being part of project activities.…

It was the early 2010s: excitement was growing for the idea of a new international convention to combat mercury emissions. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), a critical source of funding for many international conventions, was considering how to prepare for the new convention's eventual creation. The stakes were high—GEF needed to show that it was a capable financial mechanism for the future convention even though up until then, its…

COP26 is about to start in Scotland and thousands of government and civil society representatives, international organization and private sector types, scientists, journalists, and hangers-on are descending upon the city of Glasgow while the pandemic is still ongoing. In fact, the accommodations in town and its surroundings are already so overbooked that many participants have to stay in Edinburgh, some 40 minutes' train ride away.

The gathering is the 26th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the hopes are high that, finally, the…