The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has $10.2 billion in pledges and is a key ingredient for a U.N. climate accord. The Paris summit runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.

The fund will be one of the main channels for donor countries to mobilize over $100 billion a year in aid for developing nations by 2020 from public and private sources.

“These approvals of the initial projects mark the final building block of operationalising the Green Climate Fund,” Héla Cheikhrouhou, executive director of the Fund, told Reuters. “Starting this next phase will send a very positive signal to the international community before Paris.”

The first projects selected are meant to spur clean energy technology deployment and strengthen the ability of poor countries to guard against the impacts of climate change.The fund approved $12.3 million to improve early warning systems to help the African country of Malawi to respond to extreme climate events. It also approved $23.6 million to manage climate change-induced water shortages in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and $217 million for an green bond to spur renewable energy investment in Latin America.

Available at: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-climate-fund-approves-first-projects-ahead-052446919.html