Finance COP - a crucial moment for climate action
The writer is the German Ambassador to Pakistan
This year has been marked by increasingly dangerous climate impacts - a relentless succession of devastating floods, wildfires, storms and record-breaking heatwaves. These events starkly highlight the sobering reality of a future shaped by accelerating climate change. As the global community gathers in Baku for COP29, this annual summit serves as a vital moment to confront these escalating challenges and turn ambition into action.
Dubbed the 'Finance COP', COP29 underscores the urgent need to bridge the widening gap between the goals of the Paris Agreement and the actions needed on the ground. Central to this year's discussions is the mobilisation of climate finance on an unprecedented scale to address both mitigation and adaptation challenges. A critical outcome of this summit is the advancement of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), which aims to establish ambitious new targets for climate finance beyond 2025.
Germany is steadfast in its commitment to international climate finance targets. Our annual contribution to climate finance exceeded 6 billion in 2022 – well ahead of the 2025 target announced by Chancellor Scholz at COP27. These contributions, channelled through public loans and grants managed by KfW and DEG, play a pivotal role in leveraging additional private sector investment. In 2023 alone, Germany mobilised 9.94 billion in public and private climate finance, demonstrating its dedication to the collective $100 billion goal set under the Paris Agreement.
Germany's approach is rooted in partnership and collaboration. Its bilateral climate finance agreements are tailored to align with partner countries' development priorities. At COP26, Germany established the first-ever Climate & Energy Partnership with Pakistan heralding a new era for bilateral development cooperation that began over six decades ago. With our portfolio exceeding 500 million, Germany's commitment to climate and energy initiatives in Pakistan is robust. German Development Cooperation facilitates Pakistan's climate ambition and enhanced climate action via its technical and financial cooperation for development interventions across the adaptation-mitigation spectrum. Our partnership-based approach ensures that bilateral development cooperation is well-aligned with Pakistan's priorities and national development plans.
GIZ works with the Government of Pakistan to strengthen adaptation and mitigation outcomes, as well as enhancing access to climate finance at the national and subnational levels. Germany's financial cooperation through KfW is facilitating a just energy transition by leveraging Pakistan's enormous potential for renewable energy, as well as supporting the Billion Tree Afforestation project assuring a closer alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030.
We are enabling the Government of Pakistan to build resilience against climate shocks and safeguard its most vulnerable communities by strengthening the implementation of its National Adaptation Plan. Anticipatory action is essential to improving adaptation and reducing climate-induced social vulnerability. Through initiatives like the Global Shield and Adaptive Social Protection programmes, Germany is enabling anticipatory action that reduces social vulnerabilities and enhances climate resilience.
We recognise that purposeful action requires the workforce to be future fit and that resources alone are insufficient without the requisite skills. Germany has long championed capacity development efforts. At COP29, Germany will launch the Global Initiative on Green Skills for a Green Economy a milestone that underscores the importance of preparing the workforce for a sustainable future and is pleased to co-opt Pakistan as a Champion country in this Global Initiative.
Germany's efforts to direct climate finance via development cooperation are designed to protect Pakistan's people and economy from climate-induced shocks while fostering long-term sustainable growth. At COP29, the global community must come together to assess progress and amplify efforts to leave no one behind. With collective will and decisive action, we can turn the tide and forge a path for a just transition towards a resilient, equitable and sustainable future.