The 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) begins in Baku on 11 November 2024 under the Presidency of Azerbaijan. Alongside the implementation of last year’s decisions on emission reductions, energy transition, and adaptation and resilience targets, the focus this year will be on agreeing a new approach to climate finance. “Team Germany” will be represented at COP29 by several Federal Ministers.

In 2023 again, Germany contributed its fair share of the global climate commitment to mobilise 100 billion US dollars a year to support developing countries and emerging economies in their efforts to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. This is evidenced in the data which the German government reported to the EU Commission today. In 2023, Germany made a total of 9.9 billion euros available. Of that total, 5.7 billion euros are from budget funds.

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 governing body of the Global Shield against Climate Risks decided on the Global Shield’s operating model today. This is a big step from the initial idea conceived one year ago, to agreeing on the concept and launching it last fall, to making the Global Shield fully operational now. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the African Development Bank Group Annual Meetings in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The German government will make two billion euros available for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the commitment at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin today. This makes Germany the first major donor to announce its contribution for the upcoming pledging conference for the Green Climate Fund.

Germany and Pakistan want to deepen their Climate Partnership with concrete measures. This was agreed by Development Minister Svenja Schulze and Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman in Berlin today, in the margins of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. Schulze pledged envisaged commitments of around 120 million euros.

The Development Ministry has made 35 million euros available for the Amazon Fund to protect the Amazon rainforest. The commitment was announced by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Parliamentary State Secretary at the Development Ministry (BMZ) Niels Annen.

The Development Ministry (BMZ) will actively support Kenya in implementing its ambitious goals for a just energy transition. That is what the two countries agreed at their government negotiations in Berlin. The priority areas of this cooperation are developing renewable energies, expanding the electricity network, establishing hydrogen production and creating new jobs.

Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the Development Ministry, will visit South Africa from today until 9 December for the 4th German-African Business Summit (GABS). One important aspect of the visit will be looking at ways to achieve climate-neutral economic systems and a just energy transition. He will be accompanied by the new BMZ Commissioner for the Just Energy Transition Partnership with South Africa, Rainer Baake.

Germany will scale up its support for helping Serbia become less dependent on fossil energy. This was agreed by the two countries at government negotiations on future development cooperation. The central focus of this cooperation is the green transformation based on expanding the use of renewables.

The 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) ended today in Sharm el-Sheikh. As Team Germany, the Federal Government has worked both in the negotiations and through concrete initiatives and partnerships for greater ambition in containing the climate crisis and for more solidarity with the countries impacted most by it.

The negotiations at the international climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh are entering their final phase today. It is already clear that it has been possible, beyond the negotiations themselves, to agree on substantial tangible advances that will mitigate global emissions and the impacts of the climate crisis.

Germany and Pakistan are laying the foundations for working together in Pakistan under the Global Shield against Climate Risks. This was announced by German Development Minister Svenja Schulze and Pakistan's Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman at a joint event at the climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The Vulnerable 20 Group of Finance Ministers (V20) of 58 climate vulnerable economies and the Group of Seven (G7) today officially launched the Global Shield against Climate Risks, an initiative for pre-arranged financial support designed to be quickly deployed in times of climate disasters. Initial contributions include around 170 million euros from Germany and more than 40 million euros from other countries.

German Development Minister Schulze is travelling to COP27 in Egypt today. She will be lobbying together with developing countries to advance concrete solutions for climate protection, adaptation to climate change and dealing with climate-related loss and damage.

In a joint declaration with Germany and the United States Egypt today released new ambitious climate policy goals to accelerate the fight against climate change and its repercussions on vulnerable people.

Germany and Kenya want to agree a Climate and Development Partnership. Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, today signed a roadmap in this regard with Kenya’s Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President William Ruto at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Forests have a key role to play in the fight against the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and hunger. That is why Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced today as the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh begins that Germany will be doubling its contribution to forest conservation from one to two billion euros in the period up to 2025. The extra billion will be made available through the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.

The 27th Climate Change Conference (COP27) starts today in Sharm el-Sheikh. Under the Presidency of Egypt, government representatives from almost 200 countries will engage in negotiations there during the coming two weeks. For the German Government, limiting the climate crisis is an absolute priority and we will join forces in Sharm el-Sheikh to advance international climate action.

Germany has signed its first climate partnership with a country of Latin America. The new partnership with Peru focuses on climate change mitigation and adaptation to climate risks. To launch new climate projects, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action have pledged funding of around 216 million euros and 136 million euros respectively.

Germany is helping Egypt to build up a sustainable green hydrogen value chain. In a virtual signing ceremony, Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), and Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), signed two declarations of intent with ministers from Egypt.

Germany and Rwanda have agreed the next steps in their Climate and Development Partnership launched on 1 March 2022. During the government negotiations concluded yesterday, the BMZ committed 39.5 million euros to Rwanda for this purpose. The densely populated east African country is one of the countries in Africa hit hardest by climate change.

In total, the German government provided 5.34 billion euros last year in budget funding for climate finance for developing countries. 2021 thus saw a continuation of the rising trend of previous years. Counting the market resources mobilised through public funding and the private climate finance mobilised via KfW and DEG, total German climate finance comes to 8.1 billion euros.

The V20 Group of Finance Ministers from climate vulnerable economies and the G7 Presidency today announced they have reached agreement on a financial protection cooperation that responds to loss and damage as a contribution to the Paris Agreement on climate change. V20 and G7 will jointly launch the Global Shield against Climate Risks at COP27 in a wider effort to accelerate pre-arranged financing at speed and scale.

The German Development Ministry and the South African government have agreed the next steps of their cooperation on the transformation of the energy sector in South Africa. At the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow just a year ago, Germany and other donors together committed to a billion-dollar package to support a socially equitable coal phase-out.

In the future, Germany will provide increased support to Côte d'Ivoire through a new Climate and Development Partnership, assisting the country in protecting its biodiverse, ecologically valuable tropical forests. Five million hectares of forest are to be restored by 2030. Germany and Côte d'Ivoire are also planning to jointly advance the development of renewable energy generation as part of the Partnership.

German activities aimed at fostering green and just development in Latin America through development policy support are being strengthened. That is the message of the visit to Colombia and Bolivia that Development Minister Svenja Schulze embarked upon today.

By introducing the concept of a new global shield against climate risks Germany is making a concrete offer in international climate negotiations for dealing with future climate-related loss and damage in developing countries.

In a high-level ceremony in Kigali today Ms Svenja Schulze, German Development Minister, Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, and Mr Patrick Karera, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, officially launched the Rwandan-German Climate and Development Partnership.

Germany and Indonesia have agreed to work together to develop a Green Infrastructure such as projects which are to boost sustainable mobility and improve the management of waste, water supply and wastewater.