The Climate Change Convention requires industrialised nations to assist developing countries in their climate protection activities. Such support includes, among other things:

• reporting on greenhouse gas emissions in their countries
• transferring climate-friendly technologies
• adapting to the adverse effects of climatic changes
• developing options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – especially within the context of the Clean Development Mechanism established under the Kyoto Protocol
• capacity building in all of the above fields.

The German Government supports developing countries’ climate protection activities through its contributions to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and through bilateral projects. In bilateral projects, the main challenge is to view climate protection not as a specialised task of International Cooperation, but rather to mainstream it within existing projects and programmes. For instance, the greenhouse gas emissions caused by fossil fuels can only be tackled efficiently and competently within the energy sector, and the water scarcity arising in longer periods of drought can only be tackled within the water sector. Mainstreaming climate protection aspects in relevant sectors of international cooperation is therefore the key task of GIZ’s climate protection work.