‘Climate pledges must now be turned into action’
In this interview, Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven talks about what she anticipates from the COP31 climate change conference in Antalya. The Managing Director at GIZ underlines why GIZ’s work in this area serves German interests, too.
Ms Hoven, you attended your first climate change conference in 1999, as a member of the German delegation. Has climate policy failed since then, or is success simply too slow?
Measured against our goal, it is too slow. But measured against the starting point, a lot has happened. I view the 2015 Paris Agreement as an absolute highlight. Since then, the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ has applied. This means that all countries work together on climate action, but industrialised nations that have contributed most to global warming bear a greater responsibility than countries in the Global South.
In Paris, the countries also agreed to decarbonise their economies and established the 1.5° Celsius target. The credibility of the Paris Agreement now depends largely on whether the pledges made are turned into concrete action.
2015 also saw the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs …
Yes, that was a special year for multilateralism – the idea that nations can only solve problems by working together. The core premise of the 2030 Agenda is that global security and prosperity for all can only be safeguarded through cooperation, solidarity with those most in need, and shared responsibility for the global climate.
Today, the underlying conditions are completely different. The geopolitical situation is very tense, and the US is anything but friendly towards the multilateral system.
Added to this are tight national budgets and high levels of public debt in many countries. At the same time, the pressure to act is mounting. The effects of rising temperatures are also being felt all around the world. In Germany, the economic consequences of this summer’s heatwaves and droughts have been huge. In Spain, forest fires have now been followed by floods. Flooding, landslides, droughts and crop failures have also had an existential impact on people in Thailand, Nepal and East Africa. The list of examples is long.
What does this mean for the upcoming COP31 in Türkiye?
Development budgets are shrinking. At the same time, the least developed countries, in particular, have significant expectations. They are hit hardest by the climate crisis.
Let’s take Nepal as an example. Although it accounts for just 0.1 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the recent landslides caused estimated damage worth USD 2.6 billion. Nepal’s annual national budget, it should be noted, is around USD 14 billion. It is therefore understandable that countries like Nepal expect richer nations, which are responsible for emissions many times this figure, to provide more money.
‘Rallying the international community behind the “35 by 35” electrification target would be groundbreaking.’
So finances will once again play a major role in Antalya?
Most certainly. We are nowhere near where we need to be in terms of climate finance. At COP29 in Baku two years ago, it was agreed that industrialised nations, in particular, would provide USD 300 billion annually by 2035. Although the sums are increasing, at just under USD 140 billion as per the latest calculations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), they are not yet even half this amount.
A year later, in Belém, Brazil, the Parties also agreed to triple funding by 2035 to protect people from the impacts of the climate crisis. It is now crucial that these political commitments translate into reliable funding for particularly vulnerable countries like Nepal.
In the future, we must do much more to mobilise private investment and ensure greater involvement of national development banks. This is the only way that we can accelerate the necessary transformation. Technical cooperation has a crucial role to play here.
GIZ supports Germany’s partner countries in making their finances sustainable for more climate action and facilitating access to sources of financing. This includes, for example:
- Further developing national climate finance strategies
- Involving the private sector
- Advising on political and legal frameworks
- Cooperating with international climate funds
What specific expectations do you have for the COP in Antalya?
Türkiye is a very committed host; I have experienced this first-hand in various discussions with decision-makers. Despite the difficult global situation, it is pursuing an ambitious agenda. In addition to progress on green industrialisation, this includes the 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge, under which 35 per cent of global energy consumption is to be met through electricity by 2035.
Currently, this figure is around 23 per cent. Rallying the international community behind such an electrification target would be groundbreaking. It could also be implemented very effectively, broken down to the level of each individual country and translated into concrete measures with experienced partners such as GIZ.
Türkiye has framed the conference as an ‘implementation COP’, which I believe is the right approach. Most of the issues have now been negotiated, and the frameworks are in place. Now it is a matter of actively delivering on the decisions. This is a decisive turning point in the international climate process.
Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven has been a GIZ Managing Director since 2020. She previously held senior positions at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the World Bank. One of her areas of technical expertise is climate, water and biodiversity. She has been directly or indirectly involved in international climate negotiations for almost three decades and knows the subject like few others in Germany.
As yet, no specific date has been set for the phase-out of fossil fuels. Where are we on this issue?
A breakthrough has not been achieved yet, that’s true. But a TAFF roadmap is in place. TAFF stands for ‘Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels’ – it is a ‘coalition of the willing’ outside of the official negotiations. It discusses concrete steps for phasing out fossil fuels. As many as 57 countries attended the first TAFF conference last spring, including countries such as Denmark, France, Germany and Türkiye. That is substantial. I hope that these countries will play a leading role and drive the transition forward.
The economic arguments in favour of renewable energy are, after all, simply too compelling. Many of GIZ’s partner countries are saying that they would like to expand renewable energy much more quickly to reduce their dependence on expensive imports; they don’t want to get caught up in the fossil fuel cost trap. Renewable energy is safer and cheaper, and even provides new export opportunities for many countries.
How does GIZ contribute to international climate action?
Our commissioning parties – from the German Government and the European Union to the private sector – are all aware that without climate action and greater resilience to the impacts of global warming, there can be no sustainable development. Today, climate action is very closely tied to issues of security and the economy.
Our German and European commissioning parties have also recognised this: 40 per cent of our portfolio across more than 100 countries addresses the most pressing climate challenges, the protection of global supply chains and issues relating to energy security. In so doing, GIZ always connects the climate agenda with economic development, employment and human security.
Which GIZ solutions are particularly effective?
Our work has a wide-ranging impact and goes beyond individual measures. We are assisting more than 50 countries with their transition to a sustainable energy system. We support them in reducing their dependence on fossil fuel imports, making the transition fair and harnessing economic opportunities in future-oriented industries.
In Brazil, for example, we have worked with the government to develop the legal framework for feeding solar power into the country’s grids. This changed the market and opened it up to millions of households. Today, solar energy accounts for almost 20 per cent of Brazil’s electricity.
Between early 2023 and late 2025 alone, the country saved almost 55 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents as a result. This corresponds to the emissions of around 20 coal-fired power stations. What was once a niche topic has become a pillar of the energy supply. This transition has been initiated jointly by Brazil and Germany and benefits not only the global climate and Brazilian households, but also German companies such as Siemens Energy, BayWa and SMA.
Carbon markets are another current example – this is where countries or companies pay for climate action projects elsewhere and, in return, receive certificates that they can count towards their own carbon footprint. For our partners to be able to offer and sell such certificates, they need reliable rules and effective institutions.
GIZ is already working in 36 countries to establish transparent and fair markets that serve the climate and development. The potential of the carbon market is huge: in Africa alone, its estimated worth by 2030 is between USD 50 and 100 billion.
Do public investments attract private investment?
Our experience shows that they do: if invested wisely, public funds can leverage substantially higher investment sums, which in turn bring about lasting social and environmental progress.
The multi-donor platform GET.pro is one such example. Coordinated by GIZ, the platform operates in 57 countries worldwide, has supported 675 companies in developing their investment projects and mobilised EUR 573 million in investment for sustainable energies.
There is plenty of money available on the capital markets, but channelling funds into climate-friendly projects in developing countries is complicated because individual ideas are often too small, and the risks for investors too high.
This is where the C40 cities network comes in: through the Cities Finance Facility, we work together to support cities in the Global South in planning climate-friendly infrastructure projects and securing the necessary funding. These investments – those that have already been mobilised and those that are foreseeable – amount to 22 times the original public funding from Germany, France, the UK, the US and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. This has led, for example, to an e-bus network in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta; Latin America’s first solar park on a disused landfill site in Curitiba, Brazil; and a nature-based flood management system in Durban, South Africa.
How are skilled workers key to a climate-resilient economy?
The path to a climate-friendly future will only succeed if we prepare people for the opportunities presented by the new, green economy – and these are promising. But if there are no skilled workers locally, progress will slow and investors will stay away. Up to now, climate negotiations have not focused on training skilled workers, and just one per cent of climate finance has been invested in their development. GIZ is working to change this, through measures such as the Global Initiative on Jobs & Skills for the New Economy, which was launched at COP30 in Brazil and which we were involved in preparing.
Why is it in Germany’s interest for GIZ to be committed to global climate action?
Because climate change is far more than just an environmental crisis on our doorstep. The massive impacts that are already being felt pose a threat to prosperity and security across the globe. This also relates to the question of whether we will be able to live in an environment fit for humans in Germany in the future. I mentioned water shortages and heatwaves previously. The impacts are tangible. We cannot put the brakes on global warming, curb the consequences of biodiversity loss or contain the risks to human security on our own. This can only be done by working together, as equals, in our mutual interest and with solidarity. To do this, we need strong alliances and deep-rooted trust. This is precisely where GIZ’s work comes in.
