IDENTIFYING CLIMATE-FRIENDLY PATHS
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH MUST NOT BE ACHIEVED AT THE EXPENSE OF THE GLOBAL CLIMATE. THE RAPID GROWTH IN CARBON EMISSIONS IN PARTICULAR MUST BE HALTED IN ORDER TO LIMIT GLOBAL WARMING. THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAS PLEDGED TO DO THIS THROUGH THE PARIS AGREEMENT.
Countries now face the complex task of reconciling poverty reduction, economic momentum, social development and agricultural practices that provide food security with the need to conserve natural resources and protect the world’s climate. GIZ is also making a contribution. A good third of GIZ’s projects involve mitigating climate-damaging emissions, adapting to the impacts of climate change, or financing such measures.
REFORMS NECESSARY IN MANY AREAS
Saving resources and finding low-carbon paths is not just a challenge for a country’s climate change and environmental policy. Sustainable solutions are also needed in the energy and transport sector, in China for instance, which like many other rapidly growing economies requires a new transport and mobility strategy. Reforms are also needed in agriculture and forestry. These two sectors are not just hard hit by the impacts of climate change, they also make a considerable contribution to greenhouse gas emissions themselves.
MAINSTREAMING AND ACHIEVING CLIMATE TARGETS
On behalf of BMZ and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), GIZ is advising governments on mainstreaming their climate targets in all policy decisions and action plans, as well as drawing up corresponding investment plans and integrating these into budget policy.
And GIZ is supporting countries in implementing specific projects. In Greece, for example, wind and solar power are being developed extensively – with a knock-on effect of thousands of new jobs. In Mexico, the focus is on identifying energy-efficient strategies for the booming social housing construction sector in order to achieve national and international climate targets.
