The focus area for the 2026 to 2027 cycle remains under discussion by PCCB members and will be decided intersessionally. During the tenth meeting of the PCCB, members and participants worked in breakout groups to develop initial ideas for the next focus area, which the Committee is now considering. The topic, once agreed, will inform the next round of Global Capacity-building Dialogues and set the theme for next year's Durban Forum, with outcomes feeding into the annual State of Capacity-building Report, due to be published in November 2027.

For the 2025 to 2026 cycle, the Committee concentrated its activities on: "Capacity-building for holistic investment strategies, bankable projects, and stakeholder engagement to strengthen the implementation of NDCs and NAPs in developing countries."

Objectives

The 2025-2026 focus area aimed to strengthen the capacity of developing country Parties to:

🔹Access and scale finance for climate action, bridging the gap between climate ambitions and tangible outcomes through strategic investments and bankable projects;

🔹 Enhance the skills and knowledge required to access climate finance, enabling countries to secure funds from a range of sources, including Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), International Financial Institutions (IFIs), the private sector, and philanthropic foundations; and

🔹 Strengthen institutional capacity, supporting the creation of an enabling environment for effective climate action through systemic and institutional capacity-building.

How the PCCB delivered on this focus area

The PCCB worked to bridge capacity-building gaps by identifying good practices, implementing tangible actions, and equipping stakeholders with essential knowledge and skills. In doing so, it collaborated with partners including the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF), the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG), other constituted bodies, and a wide range of key partners including NDC Partnership, GGGI, GCBC, UNDP, GIZ, UNCDF and others through activities conducted throughout the year.

Multiple events centred on the focus area theme were held over the course of the cycle. Details on past events are available below.

Outcomes and knowledge products

Work under this focus area produced a growing body of outputs for developing country practitioners. These included a background paper setting out the concepts underpinning the focus area and how stakeholder engagement supports the development of investment strategies and bankable projects, together with a dedicated knowledge hub, From climate plans to funded projects: practical support for developing countries, bringing together relevant support programmes, tools and frameworks, and good practice examples.

The good practice examples featured reflected approaches surfaced directly through the year's events and activities, including the establishment of embedded climate finance units, green finance policies and centres, climate finance broker facilities, and sovereign sustainability-linked financing instruments, among others, drawn from countries that had advanced climate finance access and NDC or NAP implementation in their own national contexts.

These outcomes will feed into the annual technical progress report and annual State of Capacity-building Report due for publication in 2027.

Each year, the Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB) selects a specific focus area or theme to guide its work. This approach helps to strengthen technical exchange and ensures that the PCCB remains informed about the latest developments, successes, and challenges in capacity-building.

As part of this work, the PCCB has produced a range of outputs over the years to capture key insights and contribute to its annual technical progress reports.

Below, you can explore past publications developed in the context of the PCCB’s annual focus areas.