IEU publications
IEU publications
To serve the needs of our stakeholders, the IEU issues a variety of publications related to our work, including in the context of evaluations and learning. Keep up with the IEU’s latest publications here.
Featured publications
Impact evaluation report for FP069 — Enhancing adaptive capacities of coastal communities, especially women, to cope with climate change induced salinity in Bangladesh
Read moreFinal report of the Independent Evaluation of the GCF's Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme
The independent evaluation of the GCF's Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme undertaken in 2023 by the IEU assesses RPSP supports to GCF-eligible recipient countries delivered under the Readiness programme strategy 2019–2021 and the GCF Upd
Final report of the Independent Evaluation of the Green Climate Fund’s Investment Framework
As part of the work plan and budget of the Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) for 2023, the GCF Board approved the Independent Evaluation of the GCF Investment Framework.
Final report of the Independent Evaluation of the Green Climate Fund's Energy Sector Portfolio and Approach
The evaluation assesses whether and the extent to which GCF approaches and investments in the energy sector are effective in contributing to the objectives of the UNFCCC and other global agendas.
GEvalBrief 11
June 2021
A request for proposal (RFP) is a business document that announces a project, describes it and solicits bids or responses from qualified entities to complete it. Assistance includes, among other things, building and clarifying theories of change, co-building real-time and longer term measurement systems and helping projects use quantitative and qualitative approaches to analysing data. This 4-page summary provides a quick, reader-friendly overview of the key points in the IEU’s independent...
GEvalNote 03: LORTA 2020
June 2021
The multi-year Learning-Oriented Real-Time Impact Assessment (LORTA) programme keeps track of the impact of GCF investments. Its goal is to assist GCF projects measure their impact in lowering greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing resilience to climate change, and if so, by how much. LORTA’s assistance includes, among other things, building and clarifying theories of change, co-building real-time and longer term measurement systems and helping projects use quantitative and qualitative...
GEvalBrief 03: LORTA 2020
June 2021
The multi-year Learning-Oriented Real-Time Impact Assessment (LORTA) programme keeps track of the impact of GCF investments. Its goal is to assist GCF projects measure their impact in lowering greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing resilience to climate change, and if so, by how much. LORTA’s assistance includes, among other things, building and clarifying theories of change, co-building real-time and longer term measurement systems and helping projects use quantitative and qualitative...
GEvalBrief 03: LORTA 2019
June 2021
The multi-year Learning-Oriented Real-Time Impact Assessment (LORTA) programme keeps track of the impact of GCF investments. Its goal is to assist GCF projects measure their impact in lowering greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing resilience to climate change, and if so, by how much. LORTA’s assistance includes, among other things, building and clarifying theories of change, co-building real-time and longer term measurement systems and helping projects use quantitative and qualitative...
GEvalNote 03: LORTA 2019
June 2021
The multi-year Learning-Oriented Real-Time Impact Assessment (LORTA) programme keeps track of the impact of GCF investments. Its goal is to assist GCF projects measure their impact in lowering greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing resilience to climate change, and if so, by how much. LORTA’s assistance includes, among other things, building and clarifying theories of change, co-building real-time and longer term measurement systems and helping projects use quantitative and qualitative...
Approach Paper for the Rapid Assessment of the GCF's Request For Proposals Modality
May 2021
The objective of this assessment is to examine, primarily, the relevance of the RFP modality to the mandate of the GCF, to look at its effectiveness, and to inspect the implementation process of the modality. It will look at past RFPs to draw lessons from their implementation and find recommendations for the modality’s improvement. The assessment will not, however, focus on recommending topics for future RFPs.
Behavioural science, decision making and climate investments
May 2021
This paper builds a bridge between how climate interventions are conceived and implemented and the nascent field of behavioural science as a practical, low-cost but potentially rewarding route for increasing the effectiveness of climate interventions.
Assessing the likelihood for transformational change at the Green Climate Fund
March 2021
This paper reviews the project documents of GCF investments through March 2020. It uses bivariate statistics and multivariate cluster analysis to examine whether mitigation, cross-cutting or adaptation thematic areas show the greatest likelihood of contributing to transformational change.
Final report on the Independent evaluation of the adaptation portfolio and approach of the Green Climate Fund
February 2021
In climate change science, adaptation means preparing for and adjusting to climate change's current and future effects. This evaluation of the GCF’s adaptation portfolio and approach assesses what it takes for the GCF to contribute to adaptation interventions with greater scale, depth and duration in developing countries. It highlights how the GCF can facilitate scaling and growth through its unique ability to finance projects at scale. The evaluation shows how the GCF: Can apply its convening...
GEvalNote 09
February 2021
In climate change science, adaptation means preparing for and adjusting to climate change's current and future effects. This 2021 2-page note introduces decision makers to the key points in the IEU’s evaluation of the GCF’s adaptation approach and portfolio. It describes in easily understood terms the evaluation’s context, purpose, scope, methods, country engagement and output and timing..
GEvalBrief 09
February 2021
In climate change science, adaptation means preparing for and adjusting to climate change's current and future effects. This 2021 4-page brief introduces decision makers to the key points in the IEU’s evaluation of the GCF’s adaptation approach and portfolio. It describes in easily understood terms the evaluation’s context, background, findings, recommendations and methods.
LORTA Inception Report 2020
December 2020
The 2020 inception report for the Learning-Oriented Real-Time Impact Assessment (LORTA) programme by the Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) outlines the continued efforts to integrate real-time impact evaluations into GCF projects. It details the methodologies used, progress made, and lessons learned from the impact evaluations conducted during this period.
Evidence Review on Results-Based Payments: Evidence Gap Map and Intervention Heat Map
December 2020
The evidence review presents a systematic, multisectoral search of publications in the academic and grey literature. The search was restricted to quantitative studies published between 2000 and 2020 that assessed the effectiveness of one or more RBP interventions using experimental, quasiexperimental or non-causal designs. Based on sector-, intervention- and implementation-related characteristics extracted from a sample of 428 studies that met these inclusion/exclusion criteria, we developed an...
Going the Last Mile: Behavioural Science and Investments in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
November 2020
This paper makes the case for behavioural science analysis and interventions in project design. Current approaches to behaviour change in the GCF portfolio are likely to ignore several psychological barriers. We base our analysis and recommendations on both portfolio-level data as well as case studies of 11 purposively-chosen projects from a random sample of 20 projects in the GCF portfolio. This is a revised and extended version of the paper presented to the Climate2020 online Conference.
How to bridge the gap between complexity science and evaluation - A new analysis tool as a first step
November 2020
This paper builds a bridge between the science of complexity and climate change adaptation activities conducted in the field. It provides an introduction to complexity science, introduces a diagnostic tool for mapping complex human–climate systems, and concludes with lessons that may be learned for designing, managing and evaluating climate projects.
Final report on the Independent Evaluation of the Relevance and Effectiveness of the Green Climate Fund's Investments in the SIDS
October 2020
SIDS are an exceptionally heterogeneous group of countries. But they all have one thing in common: they are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. SIDS face numerous climate threats, including rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, flooding, drought, reduced availability of fresh water, coral reef decline and sea level rise. SIDS suffer inordinately more from climate change than they contribute to it through greenhouse gas emissions. They have been vocal about...
GEvalNote 08
October 2020
Small island developing States (SIDS) face numerous climate threats, such as rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, flooding, drought and coral reef decline. Due to rising sea levels many SIDS expect to face food and freshwater insecurity. This 2020 2-page note introduces decision makers to the key points of the IEU’s evaluation of the relevance and effectiveness of the GCF’s investments in SIDS. It describes in clear terms the evaluation’s background, context, conclusions,...