Country Funds

What is it?

Country Funds are one of the delivery mechanisms under UK PACT. They work in partnership with countries that strive to overcome barriers and constraints to clean growth and have high emissions reduction potential to help them achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

What are we looking for?

Country Funds provide grants for capacity-building projects in priority areas, which are delivered by selected implementing partners (such as NGOs, businesses, academia). A lack of enabling frameworks or clear project pipelines are cited as the two biggest barriers to implementing climate targets under the Paris Agreement. UK PACT carries out extensive engagement with partner governments and context analysis in partner countries to identify strategic sectors and priorities where UK PACT funding can be used most effectively. The programme then invites proposals from the market for projects which respond to the priorities agreed with each partner country.

Our projects work closely with key government stakeholders across different departments at local, regional and national levels. This multi-scale approach ensures we address the full spectrum of barriers to climate transitions, wherever they occur.

Where we operate

When the first phase of UK PACT launched in 2018, grant funding was allocated to three Country Funds: China, Colombia and Mexico, where a total of 34 projects was funded. The second funding round in 2020 also supported programming with Malaysia and South Africa and a total of 49 new projects were funded across five countries. In 2021 the Country Funds were extended to Indonesia, Kenya and Nigeria. More recently, we have launched additional Country Fund projects in India, Thailand, and Vietnam.