Construction of a embankment on the banks of the Mayur River in the town of Khulna in south-western Bangladesh

Climate change and development policy Adaptation to climate change

About three to four billion people – in other words, nearly half of the world's population – live in regions that are particularly affected by climate change. This is posing an increasing threat to their livelihoods and opportunities for the future. Climate change has particularly severe impacts on population groups in countries that have contributed little to climate change in the past. The German Development Ministry (BMZ) therefore funds climate change mitigation measures and supports its partner countries in adapting to impacts of climate change that have become unavoidable. Where adaptation is not enough, the BMZ assists its partners in responding to climate-related loss and damage.

A road in the Caribbean nation of St Lucia was washed away after heavy rain.

Adaptation to the impacts of global warming is enshrined as a key objective in the Paris Agreement (External link) alongside climate change mitigation. In addition, the international community adopted the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience in 2023, which lays down global key priority sectors in which international cooperation on adaptation is to be increased.

However, in those countries where adaptation is most urgent there is often a lack of funding for quick and effective action. That is why industrialised countries like Germany made a commitment to support the planning and implementation of such measures, for instance through funding, technology transfer and local capacity development. This enables particularly vulnerable countries and communities to increase their resilience.

Germany is working at the international, bilateral and regional levels to make communities, habitats, ecosystems and economic systems more resilient to climate change impacts in order to prevent human suffering, environmental degradation and economic loss from the outset.

What the BMZ is doing

The BMZ pursues a comprehensive, partnership-based approach to strengthening resilience against climate change. This includes:

Improvement of the enabling environment. Supporting the development of national adaptation strategies and efforts to build expertise and institutional capacity; bringing expertise and private capital on board, for instance through the NAP Global Network.
Comprehensive climate risk management. In collaboration with experts, assisting selected countries in carrying out risk analyses and, on that basis, developing and implementing actions and effective strategies.
Responding to loss and damage. Working closely with partners in order to develop a support architecture to improve capacity for responding to the consequences of climate change, such as the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD (External link)), the Santiago Network (External link) for technical assistance and the Global Shield against Climate Risks (External link) – with a view to giving particularly vulnerable countries and communities reliable protection against climate risks, expanding early warning systems, and giving countries and people access to the necessary funding when a disaster happens.
Food security. Fostering low-carbon, resilient agricultural and food systems in order to ensure food availability and access at the local, regional and global levels.
Water security. Reducing water losses, promoting water reuse and storage, protecting and renewing groundwater resources and developing water use plans in order to make water management climate-resilient and ensuring that people have access to water even in drought situations.
Biodiversity and ecosystem protection. Supporting and implementing nature-based solutions such as Ecosystem-based Adaptation in order to facilitate the combination of biodiversity conservation with mitigation and adaptation. Examples include ecosystems such as mangroves and coral reefs, which provide natural protection against storms and against the consequences of rising sea levels.
Infrastructure: Fostering resilient infrastructures that can withstand extreme weather events and slow-onset climatic and environmental changes, including in urban settings.
Climate and Development Partnerships. Working with selected partner countries to develop strategies that combine climate neutrality, climate resilience, economic change and social justice.
Ownership. Supporting key initiatives by partner countries, for example the Vulnerable Twenty (External link) (V20) Group and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (External link) (CDRI).
Coordinated international action. Joining forces with the European Commission and other EU member states and engaging as part of Team Europe in order to foster coherent, effective adaptation and mitigation efforts.

Financing of measures

Meeting room of the international donor conference of the Green Climate Fund, hosted by the German government in Berlin on 20 November 2014.

In the climate finance it provides, Germany wants to achieve a balance between mitigation and adaptation funding. In 2024, the BMZ provided around 2.8 billion euros for adaptation measures, which was about 46 per cent of Germany's total climate finance. This funding goes directly to projects in areas such as agriculture, water, and urban and rural development.

Solar plant and coal-fired power station in Ulan Bator, Mongolia

In order to contribute to the climate finance targets set out in the Paris Agreement, Germany made a commitment to provide 6 billion euros annually for climate finance by 2025. Germany achieved this target in 2022 and again in 2024. In addition, Germany has been working to facilitate fair access to multilateral climate funds and to encourage increased private sector engagement in sustainable investment.

Investing in adaptation to climate change pays off. Without timely precautions, the cost of loss and damage is two to ten times greater than that of adaptation measures. In the field of infrastructure in particular, it has been found that projects which are designed to be climate-smart from the start only cost three per cent more on average – and their long-term benefit by far exceeds the extra investment.