As climate adaptation finance scales up and expectations for lasting results grow, the 2026 Annual Evaluation Report by the Independent Evaluation Office examines how LDCF/SCCF projects translate investment into durable resilience outcomes.

Drawing on 180 completed projects from the OPS8 cohort, the report reviews 30 recently completed projects representing $174.4 million in GEF financing and $942.5 million in cofinancing. The evaluation finds that 83 percent of projects achieve satisfactory outcomes, yet only 61 percent are likely to sustain benefits after closure.

The evaluation also finds that progress in financial mobilization and scaling is limited, and that transformational change — while emerging in isolated cases — remains uncommon across the portfolio.

The report recommends strengthening sustainability planning at the design stage and improving monitoring and evaluation so that project-level evidence informs portfolio-wide learning.

It further calls for more context-aware approaches in fragile and conflict-affected settings.