Climate commitment at GIZ: meeting the 1.5°C target worldwide

The world is looking towards Glasgow, where the governments of 197 countries and representatives of various organisations will be meeting on Sunday for the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, COP 26. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH will also be there, debating the climate-related issues of the coming years with experts.

GIZ is providing support in multiple ways for the efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C worldwide. Six years have passed since the Paris Climate Change Conference and the pressure is high: if we are to meet our joint climate goals, governments will have to reformulate their climate action plans (nationally determined contributions, or NDCs) with considerably greater ambition and implement them more decisively. Developing countries and emerging economies will also need help to become more resilient against the effects of climate change.

These are complex and demanding tasks. They call for new and viable ideas across highly diverse sectors such as agriculture, transport and energy. Yet at the same time, these measures should not only address climate action, adaptation or finance, but also provide solutions to issues in other areas such as biodiversity, global health and social justice.

On behalf of the German Government, the European Union and other commissioning parties, GIZ is working on around 800 projects related to climate change. Tanja Gönner, Chair of the Management Board, is convinced that: ‘GIZ will remain a key player on the collective path to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement in the future, especially in the countries of the Global South’.

The company is currently supporting around 40 countries in formulating ambitious yet realistic NDCs – such as Costa Rica, one of the model countries in the field of climate change mitigation, where GIZ is working at the intersection between the most important areas for climate action and assisting Costa Rica in meeting its goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, GIZ Managing Director, describes the support provided by GIZ in its countries of assignment as follows: ‘We are the organisation that recognises trends in international climate issues and helps to adjust solutions at local and regional level and implement approaches more quickly and ambitiously.’

Advisors from GIZ are working closely alongside local and international partners to achieve climate goals across all industries and continents. GIZ is taking a holistic approach to supporting the reorganisation of industrial enterprises, agricultural businesses and transport systems, as well as the renovation of buildings. It is helping to strengthen communities so that they can steel themselves better against the effects of climate change. In collaboration with its partners, it is preventing deforestation and providing advice on reforestation, as well as promoting good general conditions for financing these measures.

The groundwork for these activities is now being laid anew in Glasgow.