The UK’s International Climate Fund

Our approach

We set out to examine how well DFID, DECC and Defra are delivering on the transformational aspirations of the ICF and the emerging impacts that programmes are beginning to have in some of the countries to which finance has been directed. We assessed how likely it is that the work the ICF is funding will meet its objective of supporting international poverty reduction by helping developing countries to adapt to climate change, take up low carbon growth and tackle deforestation. We considered whether the ICF is having a catalytic role in this context.

Our approach worked on three levels: global, national and intervention. At the global level, we explored the degree to which the ICF is making a difference in global policy and processes and the degree to which it is succeeding in mainstreaming climate change into international development and finance systems. At the national level, we sought insights from recipient stakeholders and conducted country visits to Indonesia and Ethiopia.  At the intervention level, we examined how far intended beneficiaries have been impacted by ICF interventions.