Joint press release by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) International climate finance 2025 – strong mobilisation of public and private funding for the Global South
The figures for climate finance in 2025 which Germany has reported to the European Union show that Germany has again contributed its fair share to the global climate promise and is committed to making its fair contribution to international investment in climate action, as laid down in the coalition agreement. Germany's contributions to international climate action consist of budget funds and mobilised funding. In 2025, the overall level of contributions declined slightly. However, this trend has been mitigated by the amount of private investment leveraged, and by an increase in KfW loans based on capital market funding. In this way, Germany has managed, in spite of a significant drop in budget funds, to mobilise additional resources through repayable loans and climate-friendly investments by businesses.
Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan said, “The German government is firmly committed to its goals for international climate action. We can only fight the climate crisis by working together. This global challenge requires us to join forces. Climate change knows no borders. We have been feeling its impacts in Germany, too, for quite some time now. This means that development policy efforts in support of international climate action also benefit our own country. In times of declining public budgets, we are putting an increasing focus on also raising money in capital markets and mobilising private investment – and this approach has been successful.”
Environment Minister Carsten Schneider said, “In times of geopolitical tensions, a global energy crisis and the increase of extreme weather events as a consequence of climate change, Germany is sending a strong message through its renewed climate finance drive. We assist developing and emerging economies in creating a conducive environment for phasing out fossil fuels and transitioning to renewable energy, and in facilitating investment. This international cooperation makes us stronger. This is true, not least, for Germany's industry, which can offer attractive contributions to the global cleantech megatrend. Outcomes show that private investment in these fields is becoming more and more profitable. We want to work jointly to further expand our set of tools for facilitating climate-friendly investment.”
At the international climate conferences in Copenhagen in 2009 and in Paris in 2015, the international community agreed that the industrialised countries should provide support for developing and emerging economies with regard to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Germany's contribution consists of budget funds and mobilised funding.
The German government's budget resources for international climate finance totalled 4.7 billion euros in 2025. (In 2024, this amount was 6.1 billion euros.) Of these funds, 85 per cent came from the budget of the BMZ. The BMZ provides support for the efforts of developing countries and emerging economies to increase renewable energy generation and improve energy efficiency. In the field of adaptation, the BMZ supports people in the Global South in efforts such as transforming agricultural production or improving preparedness for frequent droughts and floods.
The remainder of the funding came mostly from the German Environment Ministry (BMUKN), channelled through the International Climate Initiative (IKI), which is implemented with the participation of the Federal Foreign Office. In 2025, this funding assisted developing and emerging economies in achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The IKI supports, for example, the creation of a conducive political and financial environment for climate-friendly industrial processes, the expansion of renewable energy generation, and sustainable mobility strategies. The IKI is putting a special focus on cooperation with the private sector and on mobilising private climate-friendly investment.
The German government's support also includes financial contributions to multilateral funds such as the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility and the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage. Efforts for the global protection of species, forests, peatlands, oceans and other ecosystems make a contribution towards international climate goals, too. Related support from the German government in 2025 totalled 1.1 billion euros. In 2025, the BMZ provided, among other things, 834 million euros in support of 789 protected areas across 85 countries worldwide, which together cover an area of about 2.2 million square kilometres, more than six times the size of Germany. Of the total biodiversity funding, 247 million euros came from the BMUKN. One example of its activities is the provision of funds, via the IKI, to assist countries in implementing their national biodiversity strategies.
The total of mobilised funding provided by Germany in 2025 was 6.1 billion euros. This is comprised of loans provided by KfW and the Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), and leveraged private investment. Mobilised KfW and DEG market funding rose by 570 million euros over 2024 levels, reaching a total of 5.15 billion euros. This is funding which the two institutions, commissioned by the German government, raise on the capital market and then provide to countries in the Global South in the form of repayable loans, especially for the energy transition, for instance solar and wind power installations and the hydrogen market ramp-up. In 2025, the energy partnerships with Indonesia and South Africa played a particularly prominent role again. In addition, KfW and DEG were able to mobilise 950 million euros in climate finance from private sources. This includes, for example, equity investments in green investments made by private companies. In addition to this, the German government protected climate-friendly projects worth around 652 million euros in 2025 through its export credit guarantees for developing countries and emerging economies.
Further figures can be found in the overview:
https://www.bmz.de/en/issues/climate-change-and-development/climate-financing (External link)
Annual figures are reported to the European Commission on an ex-post basis in line with internationally agreed criteria. Figures for 2026 will be presented in autumn 2027.