BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is simplifying access to climate finance for institutions in Azerbaijan and Central Asia through a new regional presence in Amman, Jordan, and reformed accreditation pathways, a GCF spokesperson told Trend.
"At its 44th Board meeting in March 2026 in Songdo, the GCF Board selected Amman, Jordan, as the host city for a new regional office serving Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East," the spokesperson said.
According to him, the office is intended to bring GCF closer to national institutions and stakeholders. The regional office will act as a direct point of engagement for Azerbaijan and Central Asian states.
"It will strengthen coordination with GCF’s government focal points (National Designated Authorities, NDA), Accredited Entities (AEs) and broader partner networks at the national and international level," the spokesperson said.
It is also expected to accelerate project preparation, ensure readiness support matches country needs, and improve implementation and monitoring of results.
"GCF has revised its accreditation procedures to make the accreditation process faster, more fit-for-purpose, streamlining it as an institutional due-diligence mechanism aligned with GCF's strategic objectives," the spokesperson explained.
A key innovation is the Project-Specific Assessment Approach (PSAA). "Under the PSAA, the entity's capacity assessment and the funding proposal appraisal are conducted in parallel, significantly reducing the overall time and transaction costs to access GCF funding," the spokesperson said.
Entities that successfully complete a PSAA project can later pursue full institutional accreditation. PSAA priorities include sub-national, national, and regional applicants from developing countries, as well as entities responding to enhanced direct access calls, mobilizing funds at scale, and MSME-focused initiatives.
GCF also provides Readiness and Preparatory Support for pre-accreditation financing. "At the point of accreditation, DAEs are eligible for post-accreditation support on quality programming with the GCF and other funds," the spokesperson said.
With the regional office in Amman, this support can now be tailored more precisely to the institutional and policy environment of countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
The spokesperson concluded that, for institutions in Azerbaijan and Central Asia, the combination of a closer regional presence, faster accreditation, dedicated readiness support, and the PSAA pathway offers a substantially improved route to becoming a GCF partner and accessing climate finance directly for national priorities.
