The Rotterdam-based climate change research facility Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) has been accused of grossly exaggerating its role in major projects to win subsidies and donations, broadcaster NOS has claimed.

The GCA told potential donors it had created 900,000 jobs, generated €25 billion in investments and improved the lives of 82.5 million people in Africa through its projects, when in reality most of the work and funding was provided by other organisations.

The Dutch government is expected to announce shortly it is pulling its funding from the centre altogether from next year, according to NOS, while Britain has already withdrawn its subsidies and another major source of income, the Gates Foundation, is reported to be considering its options.

CEO Patrick Verkooijen has said the centre would move to the Kenyan capital Nairobi if the Netherlands ceased its support. Verkooijen’s close ties to Kenya’s autocratic president William Ruto, who made him chancellor of the University of Nairobi earlier this year, is another point of concern for western donors.

An investigation by NOS found 16 projects run by the World Bank that GCA claimed to have had invested in, despite not being mentioned in reports by the World Bank itself.

“Difficult organisation”

They included a project to counter soil erosion in Congo for which GCA said it had written an action plan and influenced €100 million worth of investments.

When questioned, the World Bank would only confirm GCA had played a part in five of the 16 projects.

Pieter Pauw, of Eindhoven University of Technology, said the GCA’s figures were “grossly exaggerated”, given that the centre’s annual income is only around €22 million. “I’ve never seen results being inflated to this extent.”

The Gates Foundation said in an internal report quoted by NOS that GCA was “a difficult organisation to work with”, adding: “The centre sometimes exaggerates its own role by claiming credit for projects that it did not launch or has not supported.”

The Danish and Norwegian governments also raised doubts about the veracity of the GCA’s claims. “It is difficult to estimate what can be attributed to the work of the GCA,” the Danish foreign ministry wrote.

The GCA was set up to help countries around the world develop projects to mitigate the effects of climate change, but in practice it has focused mainly on Africa.

It moved into a purpose-built floating office in Rotterdam’s Katendrecht district eight years ago to huge fanfare, after the city saw off competition from other Dutch bidders.

Its board of directors includes former prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, while city mayor Carola Schouten is on the supervisory board.