Climate finance and the legitimacy machine: insights from the Green Climate Fund in South Africa

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the principal multilateral mechanism for channelling climate finance to developing countries. This paper examines the processes through which GCF projects are developed, opening the ‘black box’ of project development to better understand the uneven production of different kinds of climate finance. Empirically, the analysis addresses a puzzle in South Africa: while the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) had secured approval for three projects by 2019, it was not until 2025 that the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) secured approval for its first project. To account for this divergence, the paper brings assembling thinking into dialogue with the concept of legitimacy. A key contribution is to introduce and operationalise the ‘legitimacy machine’ to theorise how assemblages become productive. This abstract machine transforms disparate components into sufficiently legitimate entities to advance policy objectives. Legitimacy thus acts as a mechanism for establishing and strengthening connections, unlocking relational power, and enabling the flow of authority, resources, and material effects. The paper demonstrates how the production of climate finance in South Africa reflects contrasting processes of legitimacy-making in the pursuit of heterogeneous desires. DBSA rapidly mobilised private finance by legitimating the South African economy as an investible opportunity, while shielding projects from critique through decentralised delivery. SANBI, by contrast, deliberately pursued a slower, more inclusive approach – shaped by acute scarcity of adaptation finance and the political challenge of narrowing multiple project ideas without alienating ‘deserving’ publics. Its commitment to safeguarding its own institutional legitimacy outweighed the imperative of rapid approval. These findings nuance debates on the transformational potential of the GCF and its role in the top-down financialization of recipient countries. They also underscore the need for pragmatic and differentiated approaches to supporting projects, recognising that distinct forms of multilateral finance require both rapid and patient pathways.