Skopje, 12 April 2022. Today the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia initiated the process of accreditation of a national entity for direct access to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the largest global fund financing actions to fight climate change.

At the proposal of the Cabinet of the Deputy President of the Government, in charge of economic affairs, coordination of economic sectors and investments, in its role of National Designated Authority (NDA) for GCF, the Government adopted a Decision for nominating the Fund of Innovation and Technology Development (FITD) to be the first national entity to initiate accreditation process for the Green Climate Fund.

Having a National Direct Access Entity, means that climate finance from the GCF can be channeled directly to the country without the intermediation of international partners. This will support the country to exercise ownership of climate change funding and better integrate it with its national climate action plans.

As a leading government institution supporting innovative micro, small and medium enterprises, with established mechanism for developing financial instruments in support to innovation and technological development, FITD is a strategically suitable entity to be accredited for directly accessing the GCF funds and contributing to the implementation of the climate action priorities of the Republic of North Macedonia.

In the next period, FITD, in cooperation with the NDA and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will work intensively to prepare for GCF accreditation. As a GCF Direct Access Entity candidate, FITD will revise its necessary internal policies, procedures and system to make sure they are aligned with the GCF accreditation requirements. As a final step, the FITD should be able to apply for accreditation in the GCF Online Accreditation System.

Under the second GCF readiness project, “Strengthening country capacities for climate change adaptation and mitigation and finalization of country work programme for the Republic of North Macedonia”, implemented by FAO under the leadership of the NDA, the Macedonian Government puts particular emphasis on unlocking the potential of the private sector in climate change investments. Hence, this is an important step in fully taping into the opportunities for transformative private investments in resilient and low-carbon economic development in North Macedonia.

The support for GCF accreditation is part of the project component on facilitating "Direct access to climate finance", whereby an Open call was launched at the end of 2020 inviting all interested public institutions, private companies and CSOs in the country interested to apply for being considered as eligible national entities with direct access to the Green Climate Fund.  

The overall prioritization and selection of the most eligible Direct Access Entity was conducted in several stages, including awareness raising among national stakeholders about the GCF accreditation process, and a rapid assessment of the potential GCF Direct Access Entities which applied to the Call. The process resulted with the in selection of one entity – the Fund for Innovations and Technological Development - by the National Designated Authority for the GCF as the most eligible to move forward in the process of GCF accreditation.