Good will hunting: Challenges of theory-based impact evaluations for climate investments in a multilateral setting

In 2018, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) initiated a multi-year Learning-Oriented Real-Time Impact Assessment (LORTA) programme to understand what works in climate interventions, for whom, how much and why. LORTA supports quality data collection, learning and causal impact measurement. It requires leadership from project teams alongside an openness by management to build measurement structures and learning into their decision making. We highlight the institutional dynamics and challenges encountered when institutionalizing LORTA within the GCF ecosystem of international and national actors. These challenges may also apply in other multilateral settings.