The Third Meeting for the Ninth Replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund concluded in Bonn, Germany, with GEF IEO Director Geeta Batra attending on behalf of the Independent Evaluation Office.

Deliberations focused on programming directions, policy reforms, financing scenarios, and results frameworks that will shape the GEF-9 period. Across sessions, participants highlighted the need for faster and more effective delivery, stronger results management, improved risk frameworks, and operating modalities better suited to system-level transformation and inclusion.

Insights from the Eighth Comprehensive Evaluation of the GEF (OPS8) helped inform these discussions, supporting evidence-based consideration of where adjustments may be needed to strengthen GEF performance under GEF-9.

Discussions focused on:

• Accelerated and streamlined delivery, drawing on evidence related to approval timelines, transaction costs, and portfolio performance
• Scaled and catalytic finance, informed by analysis of leverage, blended finance, and the conditions under which non-grant instruments add value
• Country ownership and access, reflecting findings on barriers faced by SIDS, LDCs, and fragile contexts
• Results frameworks, responding to evidence gaps in measuring system transformation, sustainability, and socio-economic co-benefits
• Governance and institutional arrangements, reflecting lessons on accountability, incentives, and oversight across the GEF family of funds