The 62nd meeting of the Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF Council) discussed the negotiations of the eighth replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund (GEF-8) at its meeting in McLean, Virginia, on June 21-23, 2022.

GEF Council Members discussed inputs by the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) to guide and evaluate GEF project implementation, kicking off the second day of the 62nd meeting of the Council. The Executive Secretaries of several of the multilateral environmental agreements for which the GEF serves as a financial mechanism discussed funding priorities for the conventions. At the conclusion of the day, Council Members were briefed on preparations for the seventh meeting of the GEF Assembly.

At the opening of the day, Rosina Bierbaum, STAP Chair and a professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, provided an overview of scientific developments related to the GEF-8 agenda, explaining that we have now transgressed six planetary boundaries, including climate change, biogeochemical flows, biosphere integrity, land system change, novel entities (toxics and plastics), and green water. She called attention to the “transformation/risk/innovation trio,” saying transformational change will require innovation, which can entail risks.

Among other conclusions from the nine new papers prepared by STAP, Bierbaum noted that policy coherence creates synergies, helps manage trade-offs, avoids damaging behaviors, and ensures global environmental benefits are not undermined by misaligned policies. She highlighted many possibilities for future work, including a report for the GEF Assembly focusing on the transformation/risk/innovation trio, developing a training course on the theory of change and multi-stakeholder dialogues, and developing a data and knowledge management platform on mercury.

Learn more from the proceedings of the 62nd Meeting of the GEF Council.