Climate protection (mitigation)

Climate protection means reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 is seen as the turning point in international climate and development policy. It is the first legally binding agreement under international law with climate policy obligations for all contracting states and aims to limit global warming to clearly below two degrees Celsius, if possible even to 1.5 degrees (in relation to pre-industrial levels). The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to achieve the global climate goal are the central element of the agreement.  Each member state has to submit its national contributions to the United Nations Climate Secretariat, and every five years the ambition level of the contributions has to be upgraded.

GIZ advises decision-makers on the formulation and implementation of their national climate contributions and on the development of long-term (low-emission) strategies (LTS). Consultation focuses on cross-sectoral and participatory approaches.  Participants from the local to the international level are to be involved in the national coordination process.

To substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring socio-economic progress, a profound change in policy and society is required. But change also offers opportunities. Therefore, in its advisory services, GIZ attaches great importance to using successful examples to illustrate the concrete economic, social and environmental benefits that climate protection entails, from which the entire population benefits.  It is important that NDC-oriented programs and measures for sustainable development supplement each other in accordance with the 2030 Agenda.

One of the key challenges of the Paris Agreement is to implement ambitious NDCs in all climate-relevant sectors (mainstreaming). Close interdisciplinary cooperation is required for this. In addition to energy and transport, sectors such as industry, waste and recycling management, as well as agriculture and forestry play an important part in climate protection. Increasing the level of ambition of NDCs, as stipulated in the Paris Climate Agreement, requires improved and transparent impact measurement and public reporting (Enhanced Transparency Framework - ETF) to ensure comparability of climate contributions.  For this reason, GIZ advises on measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) of climate protection measures.

Another focus of the consultancy is to support the build-up of regional or national carbon markets and emission trading systems.. It also advises on fiscal or financial policy reforms with the aim of reducing environmentally false incentives and generating additional public and private funding. This also means that the mobilization of capital market funding and leverage of private climate financing is considered from the beginning in the design of all NDC-relevant projects.

Successful NDC implementation in partner countries is substantially supported by technical cooperation and capacity development. Strengthening innovation and climate expertise in partner countries, developing climate financing mechanisms, and accompanying change processes are therefore among the key aspects of GIZ’s advisory services. Experience from cooperation with around 120 countries forms the basis of the extensive technical and methodological competencies that GIZ can put to good use in climate protection consultancy.