Germany needs to invest massively in international climate protection – WWF

Germany needs to make more investments in climate protection abroad if it is to fulfil the targets of the Paris agreement, according to a report by the Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut) commissioned by environmental organisation WWF. The paper states that Germany’s domestic climate protection efforts are not enough to help limit global warming to 1.5°C because the country is set to run out of its own carbon budget within this decade. "Through our high emissions, we continue to claim far more than our fair share of the global residual budget, and are thus heading into the climate crisis with our eyes wide open," said Viviane Raddatz of WWF Germany. According to calculations by the Öko-Institut, Germany will need to invest between eight and 25 billion euros annually over the next 30 years to speed up the energy transition abroad. "For an industrialised country like Germany, these are sums that in principle can be financed and help prevent other countries from going down or continuing down the same fossil fuel path as us,” added author of the study Felix Matthes.

During the COP26 climate conference earlier this month, developed countries said they will fulfil their pledge to deliver 100 billion US dollars annually in climate finance to help developing countries by 2023, three years later than originally promised. NGOs criticised the delay and said the plan lacked detail to verify the claim that the target will be reached by 2023 and then be surpassed in later years.