Germany´s future development cooperation policy in Asia to focus more on Green Growth, climate protection and adaptation to climate change

Berlin/Manila – May 3, 2012: Today, the Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Gudrun Kopp, emphasized the importance of future funding for international climate protection at a side event during the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Manila/Philippines. Germany attaches high political priority to climate protection and considers climate policy an international task that can only be addressed successfully through joint efforts. Thus, Germany is making available considerable levels of funding for international climate cooperation. Having spent some 1.8 billion euros on climate change in 2011, Germany is the world’s second largest donor in this field Enlarge image (© www.picture-alliance.com)

Nearly 30 per cent of Germany´s bilateral funding for climate protection went to Asia. The major part of Germany´s cooperation with Asia lies in the area of mitigation, renewable energies and energy efficiency. “Nevertheless, climate adaptation becomes more and more important for our partners and German development cooperation will focus on this issue even more in the future”, commented State Secretary Kopp in Manila.

The Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change. While the contribution of the Philippines to Greenhouse Gas emissions remains insignificant, climate change affects virtually all facets of the country's development. For this reason, the Philippines’ Government formulated the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change and the National Climate Change Action Plan, Secretary Elisea G. Gozun, Presidential Adviser on Climate Change of the Philippines explained during the meeting.

“The Philippine’s climate policy play a pioneering role in Southeast Asia, both in mitigation and adaptation”, Secretary Gozun emphasized.
Germany supports these efforts within the framework of Development Cooperation and with its International Climate Initiative. As a multilateral instrument, the Green Climate Fund will be an important new element in the architecture of international climate financing. It will support developing countries in their engagement towards a low-carbon development Enlarge image (© picture-alliance/dpa)
In April, the German Government submitted its application to accommodate the headquarters of the Green Climate Fund in Bonn. Germany's pioneering role as the second largest donor of climate finance and as a key driving force in bilateral and multilateral climate cooperation are the reasons for Germany’s aspiration to host the Fund.

“The Green Climate Fund has the potential to become a real driving force in shifting the paradigm towards low-emission, climate-resilient development. In order for that new potential to be rapidly realised, we need a sound institutional basis for the Fund. Also, we need to secure the envisaged funding by obtaining binding commitments”, commented Special Envoy Bernd Mützelburg who accompanied State Secretary Kopp to Manila. “Our proposal to host the Green Climate Fund in Bonn emphasizes our willingness to assume responsibility. We are providing 40 million euros for preparatory and capacity building measures in a readiness support programme. Germany is very interested in ensuring that the Green Climate Fund is off to a successful start”, State
Secretary Kopp added. The decision on where to locate the Fund's headquarters will be taken at the end of 2012 by the 18th Conference of the Parties to the Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Qatar.

Please send an email to: greenclimatefund%27%de,press. For further information on Germany’s application to host the Green Climate Fund please visit http://www.greenclimatefund.de.

About the Green Climate Fund
Last December, at their meeting in Durban, South Africa, the State Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) operationalised the Green Climate Fund (GCF). At COP 15 in Copenhagen Annex-1 members had committed to mobilise $100 billion/p.a. from public and private sources from 2020 onwards to finance measures for mitigating and adapting to climate change in developing and emerging countries. A considerable portion of these funds will be channeled through the GCF beginning with a slow build-up in 2014.

A Board of 24 will decide upon a future location of the GCF secretariat; the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC will confirm this decision in Qatar later this year. The Board will consist of representatives of industrialised countries and of developing/emerging nations in equal numbers. It will commence work on 31 May in Geneva.

3 May 2012