UNEP is one of the founding agencies of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and has worked hand-in-hand with it since 1992. UNEP helps countries access GEF financing, provides scientific and policy expertise, and co-designs projects that tackle global environmental challenges.

UNEP was a founding partner of the GEF in 1992 and has remained central to its operations ever since.

It is currently one of 18 GEF Agencies authorized to help countries design and implement projects using GEF funding.

UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and the GEF (Global Environment Facility) have a strong partnership: UNIDO is one of GEF’s implementing agencies, receiving over $1 billion in grants to execute more than 400 projects in 100+ countries. Their collaboration focuses on linking industrial development with environmental sustainability.

Founding & Partnership

UNIDO became a GEF Implementing Agency in 2006, though it had been executing GEF projects since the 1990s.

The partnership aligns with inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID), ensuring that industrial growth supports climate, biodiversity, and pollution reduction goals.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are founding partners, with UNDP serving as one of GEF’s main implementing Agencies. UNDP channels GEF grants into thousands of projects worldwide, focusing on biodiversity, climate change, land restoration, and community-driven initiatives.

Founding & Partnership

GEF was established in 1991 by the World Bank, UNDP, and UNEP.

UNDP is both a founding partner and a major implementing agency, responsible for designing and executing GEF-funded projects in collaboration with national governments.

UNDP’s Role

Project Implementation: UNDP manages about 40% of GEF grants, supporting projects in over 120 countries.

Capacity Building: Helps governments integrate environmental priorities into national development strategies.

Community Engagement: Through the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), implemented by UNDP, more than 20,000 grants have been awarded to civil society and community based organizations in over 125 countries.

The relationship between the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) is defined by a strategic partnership aimed at catalyzing environmental sustainability and climate resilience across the African continent. Established as a financial mechanism to address global environmental challenges, the GEF functions as a multilateral trust fund, while the AfDB acts as a premier development finance institution for Africa. Since the AfDB became an accredited GEF implementing agency in 2007, the two organizations have collaborated to integrate environmental safeguards and climate adaptation strategies into large-scale infrastructure and development projects.

Conservation International (CI) works globally with governments and engages with all sectors of society to achieve the ultimate goal of improved human well-being, particularly focusing on the essential services that nature provides. As a GEF project Agency, they leverage their science, experience in innovative finance, and community-based solutions as well as their network of partnerships to implement effectively in the focal areas of biodiversity, climate change adaptation and mitigation, land degradation, and international waters.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With 194 members – 193 countries and the European Union, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.

The WBG has strong experience in investment lending, focusing on institution building, infrastructure development, and policy reform across all the focal areas of the GEF.