Corona Response Package - rapid assistance for sustainable recovery

The COVID 19 pandemic poses a significant challenge to societies and governments worldwide. Protecting the health of citizens is a top priority. However, it is vital to also address the prevention of future pandemics and the restart of economic activities.

Against this backdrop, the International Climate Initiative (IKI) has developed a Corona Response Package under its International Climate Initiative (IKI). The package supports IKI's partner countries in addressing these challenges, by giving selected ongoing projects and initiatives complementary tasks. The aim is to maintain and strengthen existing social structures and to promote and accelerate the transformation, to an economy with a focus on climate change mitigation and conservation of biodiversity. Further initiatives will be added to the Corona Response Package. 

The Corona Response Package focuses on a green restart of the economy in combination with the prevention of pandemics. Climate policy issues and the conservation of biodiversity remain as guiding principles in the spirit of the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the 2030 Agenda. The 68 million euro package will involve 29 projects in 25 countries and support 16 different IKI implementing partners. It is regionally balanced, thematically diverse, and aims to meet the needs of the partner countries.

With the Corona Response Package, the IKI helps to provide short-term responses to the impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic. The fast-track procedure has been modified and shortened compared to the standard processes of IKI project funding. The package of measures can build on approximately 300 IKI projects that are currently underway to provide targeted support.

IKI elements: IKI Corona Response Package

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Due to quarantine measures and lack of funds from tourism, poaching and deforestation have dramatically increased worldwide. As a result, communities such as indigenous groups are acutely at risk.

Therefore, one focus of the measures is to provide financial support for the conservation of nature reserves and biodiversity hotspots and to mitigate the immediate consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Although IKI partner countries face major economic and social challenges, there is also an opportunity to achieve an economic recovery that is sustainable, and in harmony with climate change mitigation strategies and biodiversity conservation. Many governments have announced their intention to pursue this goal in recent months. The Corona Response Package’s second priority aims to exploit this opportunity and provide support for a green economic recovery.

The IKI package intends to use multiple instruments to provide a sustainable stimulus to national economies:

Economic advisors will be financed in eleven partner countries, to provide support to planning and/or finance ministries for the design of climate-friendly economic stimulus programmes. BMU cooperation partners for these activities are the NDC Partnership and the OECD. The NDC Partnership encompasses several IKI projects as well as short-term enquiries from developing countries to support sustainable economic stimulus programmes.

At the same time, the IKI has also expanded its financing for the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (UN PAGE). The aim here is to offer the twenty partner countries direct support for the development of sustainable economic recovery measures as well as transition pathways to a decarbonised society. In addition, PAGE is closely coordinating its global activities for capacity building with other initiatives, including the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP), Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development Goals (GO4SDGs) and the NDC Partnership.

Additional support is also being offered for ongoing IKI projects characterised by their special effects on employment as well as those that are able to create the fundamental requirements for the integration of climate change and biodiversity aspects into economic development programmes. To this end, the IKI is increasing funding for 16 IKI projects and making contextual changes to another 9 projects. These projects are prioritising topics such as energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, urban development and the mobilisation of sustainable investment.

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The third part of the package focuses on the prevention of pandemics. The increasing occurrence of viral pandemics is closely linked to the growing loss of biodiversity and forests worldwide. When humans and animals move closer together, the risk of diseases being transmitted from animals to humans (zoonoses) increases.

Therefore, the conservation of biodiversity hotspots and forests helps to reduce the risk of zoonoses, and thus reduces the likelihood of pandemics.