Through its programme of development cooperation, Germany helps developing countries and emerging economies to fund measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the consequences of climate change. In this way, it is lending vital support to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on a global scale.

Climate change is causing an increase in devastating weather events such as flooding or droughts. They are a particular threat for people living in low-income countries, who are often defenceless in the face of such disasters. The countries concerned are requesting support from industrialised countries. The G7 countries have therefore agreed to set up a Global Shield against Climate Risks.

Germany is engaged worldwide in supporting efforts to achieve a socially just transition towards climate-neutral societies and economies. Climate and Development Partnerships are a key part of Germany’s development policy. Partners are both emerging economies that produce a lot of greenhouse gas emissions and developing countries that are especially engaged in climate action.

Global greenhouse gas emissions need to go down dramatically. At the same time, energy demand is rising in developing countries and emerging economies. Energy is the key foundation for economic and social development. In order to provide a sustainable supply for all in the future, that energy will need to be climate neutral. That is why the BMZ has been working for a global energy transition and supporting the efforts of partner countries to expand renewable energies.

Measures supported by German development cooperation aim to ensure that cities contribute less to global warming and at the same time adapt to the consequences of climate change. Key areas of sustainable urban development thus include creating sustainable urban infrastructure, promoting climate-friendly mobility, and establishing urban waste management systems and a circular economy.

Right now, more than 40 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by agri-food systems – for instance through land use changes, food production and packaging, or transport and consumption. The BMZ is working for a socially fair and ecologically sustainable transformation of agri-food systems.

In 2022, the G7 recognised that vulnerable developing countries need more support for dealing with climate-related damage. A Global Shield against Climate Risks is meant to gather activities in the field of climate risk insurance and preparedness together under one roof. As a result, those who urgently need assistance when disaster strikes will be able to access help more easily and more quickly.

The BMZ is supporting ambitious partner countries with bilateral climate and development partnerships (P+) and multilateral partnerships under a G7 framework (Just Energy Transition Partnerships, JETPs). Partners are both emerging economies that produce a lot of greenhouse gas emissions and developing countries that are especially engaged in climate action.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are at the very heart of the Paris Agreement. The BMZ has joined with a range of partners in the global NDC Partnership to help developing countries and emerging economies define ambitious NDCs and implement them in line with the goals of the 2030 Agenda.

Supporters of the Development and Climate Alliance founded by the BMZ are promoting climate protection projects in developing countries and emerging economies. They are given climate protection certificates in return that testify to what extent greenhouse gas emissions have been saved. This allows them to offset the emissions they cannot avoid.

The BMZ’s “Green People’s Energy for Africa” initiative contributes to setting up decentralised energy systems on the basis of renewable sources in rural areas of Africa. It does so by working closely with citizens, cooperatives, municipalities and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Energising Development (EnDev) energy partnership is aimed at creating “energy for people, for economic development and for the climate” and aims to give 28.5 million people access to modern, climate-neutral and affordable energy by 2025.

With the initiative “Green people's energy for Africa”, the BMZ wants to improve the conditions for a decentralised energy supply in rural areas in selected countries in Africa and involve citizens and companies in the process. In Uganda, primary schools are to be supplied with climate-neutral solar energy.

Bangladesh is one of the countries that will be most strongly affected by climate change. Rising sea levels threaten to leave one fifth of the country permanently under water. On top of that, its population density is already one of the highest in the world. German development cooperation activities are supporting the efforts of cities in Bangladesh to adapt to climate change

The Pacific island states themselves contribute little to global warming, but because of their location they suffer greatly from the consequences. In Narikoso, a village in Fiji, the coastline has shifted 15 metres inland over the past 30 years. Therefore, a resettlement was decided, which is supported by a cooperation between the EU and BMZ.

Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world – and climate change will further reduce water availability. There is an acute risk to the public drinking water supply and adequate water provision for agriculture, particularly affecting vulnerable groups within society.

Outside the islands of Java and Bali, and especially in the less developed east of Indonesia, many people still have no access to electricity. Through small hydropower plants and solar mini-grids, the “1,000 Islands” programme ensures a reliable, climate and environmentally friendly electricity supply.

Agriculture is Mali's most important economic sector, providing work for one in three of the population. The installation of small-scale irrigation systems has brought lasting improvements to food production for many people.

Schulze: “In these difficult times, the world urgently needed this signal of unity. The conference has succeeded in building more trust between Europe and the developing countries again. The good start of the conference, with the swift agreement on the new Loss and Damage Fund, has helped to make this possible.”

The climate issue is also a debt issue, because debt and a country’s vulnerability to climate change are closely linked. Debt can hinder urgently needed investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This in turn increases a country’s vulnerability to extreme weather events. That is why Germany offers “debt-for-climate” swaps. In a debt-for-climate swap, rather than repaying its debts to Germany, a country instead invests the money in climate action.

Now that the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai has approved the new fund responding to loss and damage right at the start of the meeting, the implementation is getting a kick-start. Germany and the Vulnerable Twenty Group (V20) will be contributing some principles to the design of the Fund which are based on their practical experience with the Global Shield against Climate Risks, launched by Germany and the V20 a year ago as trailblazer. Germany, represented by Development Minister Svenja Schulze, and Ghana, chair of the V20, today held a joint press conference in Dubai to highlight these points.

At the conference for the replenishment of the Green Climate Fund hosted in Bonn by Germany a total of 9.322 billion US dollars was pledged. This funding will be used between 2024 and 2027 to finance projects that will drive forward climate action and the energy transition in developing countries and emerging economies, and will help developing countries particularly affected by climate change cope better with the impacts of global warming.

Germany increased its international climate finance to a new all-time high in 2022. In total, the German government provided 6.39 billion euros in budget funding last year for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. The figure has now been reported to the EU Commission, which gathers the data for the entire EU. That means that the target of investing 6 billion euros of public funds in climate finance, which Chancellor Olaf Scholz had pledged to achieve by 2025, has already been met three years ahead of schedule.

The impacts of climate change threaten the livelihoods of many people, especially in vulnerable countries. At the Climate Conference in Egypt (COP27), an agreement was reached to set up a new international financing architecture to deal with loss and damage, including a new fund.

The Global Shield against Climate Risks is a joint initiative of the G7 and the V20 (an association of countries particularly threatened by climate change). It bundles activities in the field of climate risk insurance and prevention.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Only together can we identify ambitious solutions and implement them fast enough. The BMZ supports developing countries and emerging economies with a wide range of measures and programmes to achieve their climate commitments and to protect themselves against the impacts of climate change.

Three projects from Madagascar, India and Ethiopia illustrate how digital climate information services, circular economy and landscape approaches can contribute to climate change adaptation.

The increasing number and intensity of droughts, floods, and heavy rainfall show that the climate crisis is equally a water crisis. The BMZ understands water as a central element in advancing climate change adaptation and mitigation goals.

Climate risk management helps address the remaining climate risks by using a range of effective and innovative tools and measures to prevent, minimise and manage loss and damage.