The International Climate Initiative (IKI)

Last updated: May 2024

Since 2008, the German government has been promoting climate action and biodiversity conservation in the Global South through the International Climate Initiative.

The electrification of local public transport in Indonesia, the restoration of mangrove forests in Mexico, the replacement of oil-fired power plants with renewable energy in Egypt and the socially responsible renaturalisation of former mining regions in South Africa: these examples provide just a small insight into the enormous range of challenges that the international community must overcome if it is to achieve the global climate and biodiversity targets by 2050.

Since 2008, the German government has been promoting climate action and biodiversity conservation in the Global South through the International Climate Initiative.

Two global framework agreements are superordinate to the IKI:

With the Paris Agreement⁠ in 2015 the global community agreed that all countries would reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The richer countries must support the poorer ones with this. The agreement concretises the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was adopted in 1992.

The basic idea behind the Paris Agreement is that consistent climate protection in all areas of society protects people’s lives and ensures their survival. Particularly relevant starting points here are energy generation and energy consumption.

At the same time, measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change should help, for example, to protect against extreme weather events and prevent floods or droughts.
Climate action and adaptation help prevent damage to infrastructure or losses in agriculture, which is ultimately less expensive than having to pay for the damage afterwards.
A similar principle applies to the conservation of biodiversity: if we protect complex ecosystems and the species within them, this helps to keep the global climate and the economic sectors that depend on it stable.

This has a direct impact on food security, water supply and much more. With the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the United Nations adopted the first global agreement to protect nature and safeguard the natural basis for human life. The agreement was most recently reaffirmed and concretised at the 2022 CBD COP 15 with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

In recent years, the International Climate Initiative has developed into a central programme for promoting climate action and biodiversity conservation. Through the IKI, Germany has been contributing to the protection of the climate and biodiversity since 2008, thereby fulfilling its international obligations within the international community.

Our strength: combining climate action and biodiversity conservation

Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are two global mega-crises that are closely linked. Effective solutions must therefore focus on interactions and synergies – and this is precisely what is reflected in the approach taken by the International Climate Initiative. The funding programme combines the following four funding areas:

Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions: Setting the course for global climate neutrality by 2050;
Adaptation to the impacts of climate change: Strengthening resilience, making use of interconnections with mitigation and biodiversity approaches;
Preserving and restoring carbon sinks: Combating the causes of global warming and the destruction of natural ecosystems;
Conserving biological diversity: Implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework.

From the IKI’s first days, the areas were considered as a collective, and many projects were designed to be cross-sectoral. In this way, the IKI has provided and continues to provide important impetus for the implementation of ambitious climate and biodiversity policies in its partner countries.

This integrative approach has been fleshed out even further in the Strategy of the International Climate Initiative up to 2030. The IKI also incorporates alliances and processes that are important to the Federal Government into its funding structures. These include in particular the Climate Club, the Just Energy Transition Partnerships and the NDC Partnership.

Our focus from 2024 onwards: priority fields of action and selected partner countries

Graphic of the prioritised fields of action and overarching focus areas of the IKI. A detailed presentation is available under the link to the graphic. — Overarching priorities and prioritised fields of action in the IKI funding areas.

The German government wants to maximise its impact on climate action and biodiversity conservation through its funding via the International Climate Initiative. To this end, it concentrates its funding activities on prioritised fields of action within the four funding areas.

IKI funding priorities at a glance

World map with the IKI priority countries. An overview of all countries is available under the link in the graphic. — IKI´s priority countries.

Another key element is the close cooperation with selected partner countries, especially with the IKI’s priority countries. These priority countries account for almost 50 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and are also home to the 25 global biodiversity hotspots. This means that IKI projects are particularly effective here because there is great potential for reducing greenhouse gases, adapting to the impacts of climate change and protecting biodiversity.

IKI priority countries at a glance

Contact

IKI Office
Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH
Stresemannstraße 69-71

10963 Berlin

iki-office@z-u-g.org

Contact for press inquiries

All important information and contact persons for reporting on the IKI can be found on the press page.

IKI strategy

A solar park stands on a green hill and the sun is setting.

The German Federal government is redefining the design of the IKI and consequently an important part of Germany's international climate finance.

IKI Strategy

All IKI projects

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Click here for the IKI project database

IKI Annual Report 2023

Lettering 15 years of IKI, next to it a circle symbol

Get an overview of the key topics, facts and figures from the past year in the new Annual Report.

Read the IKI Annual Report 2023 now

The players behind the IKI

Within the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection and the Federal Foreign Office are responsible for the International Climate Initiative. All three ministries contribute their respective expertise to the design and strategic direction of the funding programme, while the Ministry for Economic Affairs is responsible for the overall coordination. IKI activities are carried out in close consultation with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and are aligned with the Strategy on Climate Foreign Policy of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.

IKI relies on close cooperation with the governments of the partner countries and a diverse implementation structure to implement the 400 or so projects that are currently in progress. In other words, the diversity of the organisations implementing our projects corresponds to the diversity of the project requirements.

The federally owned company Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH (which serves as project management agency of the IKI) provides technical support and is responsible for the programme management and project evaluations.