All the key facts and figures on the International Climate Initiative (IKI) in a nutshell.
The IKI balance sheet figures for 2024 were corrected in April 2025. The Annual Report 2024 was therefore updated again in April 2025.
Via the IKI, the German Government seeks to maximise its impact for climate change mitigation and the conservation of biodiversity. In 2024, the IKI was able to almost fully disburse its allocated budget line of EUR 735 million. This includes the funds that were made available to the IKI for the year in the Federal Budget. Expenditure for ongoing and new projects amounted to EUR 703 million. Commitments in 2024 totalled EUR 1.033 billion. Commitments comprise a summary of the expenditure for the year and additional funds assigned for expenditure in the coming years. This sum also includes payments made into the International Climate and Biodiversity Fund, as well as commitments for the IKI Medium Grants, the IKI Small Grants and the Mitigation Action Facility.
IKI budget 2008-2024
Data source:
Bundesregierung
IKI budget
2008
120
2009
120
2010
120
2011
134
2012
137
2013
287
2014
309
2015
263
2016
338
2017
387
2018
437
2019
457
2020
567
2021
596
2022
677
2023
710
2024
735
2024 funding commitments by funding areas
Commitments were spread across the following areas (rounding differences possible):
EUR 202 million for support activities and project sponsor costs
The project management agency costs for Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH are also part of the support for the funding programme; a new contract has been concluded here until 2030.
One should note that all IKI funding is assigned solely to finance commitments for greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation to the impacts of climate change that Germany has made in the context of international agreements. Funding activities from the two corresponding IKI funding areas are each offset against the corresponding funding commitments at 100 percent. The other funding areas are split between the two commitment categories.
Data source:
IKI
2024 funding commitments by region
Data source:
IKI
Commitments were distributed across the various regions as follows (rounding differences possible):
Global: EUR 458 million
Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Turkey: EUR 43 million
South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (Asia): EUR 103 million
Sub-Saharan Africa (Africa): EUR 47 million
Central and Latin America and the Caribbean: EUR 161 million
Middle East and North Africa (MENA): EUR 20 million
Funding commitments in 2024 according to prioritised fields of action of the IKI strategy
Funding area: Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions
Decarbonisation of industry: EUR 63 million
Energy transition: EUR 71 million
NDCs and LTS: EUR 123 million
Mobility transition: EUR 66 million
Funding area: Adapting to the impacts aof climate change
National adaptation plans: EUR 6 million
Ecosystem-based adaptation: EUR 29 million
Resilience and security: EUR 24 million
Funding area: Preserving and restoring natural carbon sinks
Ending deforestation and land use changes: EUR 13 million
Peatland protection: EUR 2 million
Nature-based solutions: EUR 15 million
Funding area: Conserving biological diversity
Mainstreaming of biodiversity: EUR 27 million
NBSAPs incl. promotion for IPLCs: EUR 20 million
Habitat protection: EUR 58 million
Overarching priorities
Financing the socio-ecological transformation: EUR 117 million
Support for international negotiation processes: EUR 1 million
Sustainable and climate-friendly development of urban areas: EUR 24 million
Data source:
IKI
This list does not include commitments required for the implementation of the funding programme up to 2030. Commitments to the Mitigation Action Facility and the Adaptation Fund for 2024 as well as the funding made available up to 2030 via the IKI Small Grants are also not listed. These funds can either not yet or generally not be precisely assigned to a field of action. Furthermore, individual IKI projects are also working in important thematic fields that do not match a prioritised field of action.
IKI Calls in 2024 – an overview
The IKI uses a two-pronged strategy to support its partner countries. On the one hand, this involves ideas competitions with a thematic focus – including large-volume Thematic Calls as well as the two smaller-scale project programmes IKI Small Grants and IKI Medium Grants. On the other hand, the IKI also works bilaterally in specific areas with 14 focus countries. Part of this cooperation involves the country calls, which are also large-volume items: here, the IKI works very closely with the partner government and typically publishes an ideas competition for two urgent thematic fields.
In 2024, the IKI launched four new ideas competitions with a total volume of up to EUR 340 million. Please click the corresponding calls for detailed information.
Each year, the IKI Thematic Calls address current challenges faced in climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. For each of these challenges, the participating ministries identify thematic priorities that can then be used as the basis for submitting project outlines. The volume of finance provided to each project by the IKI varies between EUR 5 million and EUR 20 million, depending on the individual thematic priority. For each of the Thematic Calls, the IKI Office of the federally owned ZUG hosts online seminars aimed at increasing the quality of project outlines submitted.
New ideas competition for nine thematic priorities
At the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Baku (COP29) in November 2024, the 2024 Thematic Call was launched with a total funding volume of up to EUR 205 million. The three IKI ministries joined up in a search for ambitious and innovative project ideas for the following 9 thematic priorities, which are based on the prioritised fields of action of the IKI Strategy up to 2030.
Promotion of cooperative approaches to the implementation of Art. 6: Removal activities and mobilisation of private capital (BMWK)
Building energy efficiency: Business models for scaling energy efficiency measures (BMWK)
Climate-friendly transport: Support of partner countries in the creation of foundations, strategies and specific approaches for climate action and the energy transition in transport (BMWK)
Scaling innovative financing solutions for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries (BMWK)
Development and implementation of innovative financing models and programmes for the sustainable conservation of primary forests and the restoration of semi-natural forests (BMUV)
Conservation, sustainable management and restoration of critical wetlands for biodiversity and climate action (BMUV)
From Blue Carbon to Blue Value - locally-led approaches for coastal marine ecosystem services (BMUV)
Building climate resilience through protecting vulnerable watersheds in South America (BMUV)
Enhancing climate resilience to prevent conflict and sustain peace (Federal Foreign Office)
Applicants were requested to submit project outlines by mid-February 2025.
In a country call, the IKI works together with a partner government to develop thematic priorities for bilateral projects. In most cases, this more in-depth cooperation is a feature of work with IKI focus countries. The objective of the country calls is to offer tailored support to partner countries in areas of the IKI’s prioritised field of action that are identified as priorities by their governments. For each country call, two to three thematic priorities are usually identified with the respective partner government, resulting in a project being implemented for each of them. The volume of finance that the IKI provides for each project varies between EUR 8 million and EUR 30 million, depending on the individual thematic priority. For each of the country calls, the IKI Office at ZUG hosts online seminars aimed at increasing the quality of the project outlines submitted.
Ideas competition for three thematic priorities in Brazil
The ideas competition with the IKI focus country Brazil ran from 7 March to 28 May 2024 with the following three thematic priorities and a total volume of up to EUR 60 million:
Decarbonisation of emission-intensive industrial sectors (BMWK)
Combating deforestation in the Brazilian biomes Cerrado, Caatinga, Pantanal, Atlantic Rainforest and Pampa (BMUV)
Climate change adaptation in vulnerable urban territories: Cooperating with communities and strengthening local governments (BMUV)
A total of 53 project ideas were submitted for the thematic priorities developed by the BMWK and BMUV together with Brazil, which are based on the prioritised fields of action of the IKI. In close consultation with the partner country, three of these were asked to submit detailed project proposals.
Together with the IKI focus country Colombia, the IKI was searching for innovative project ideas in the field of climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation with a total volume of up to EUR 50 million for the second time.
The ideas competition ran from 29 May to 7 September and included the following two thematic priorities, which the BMWK and BMUV developed together with the Colombian government based on the IKI Strategy up to 2030.
Roll-out of renewable energies and economic diversification for a just coal phase-out (BMWK)
Landscape-scale restoration as an economic and multifunctional nature-based solution for peace (BMUV)
A total of 37 project ideas were submitted for the Colombia country call.
The IKI uses the IKI Medium Grants to support civil society organisations that are based in Germany at the time of the first disbursement made for an approved grant. These organisations work with partner organisations to implement measures for strengthening North-South cooperation on climate change mitigation, adaptation to climate change and biodiversity conservation in emerging and developing countries. The funding volume of the individual funded projects ranges from EUR 300,000 to EUR 800,000.
The IKI Office of ZUG implements the IKI Medium Grants as the delegated project management agency as part of the IKI. Beyond the project funding itself, ZUG offers strongly focused domain-specific and commercial support to IKI Medium Grant projects. Online seminars organised by ZUG offer interested implementing organisations the possibility of asking questions before participating in the ideas competition and finding out more about the key features of a high-quality project. The impact of this knowledge transfer extends beyond the IKI Medium Grants, even helping organisations outside of IKI calls to implement successful projects.
Fifth ideas competition for the IKI Medium Grants
In October 2024, the fifth ideas competition for the IKI Medium Grants was held, with a total funding volume of EUR 8 million. The BMWK and the BMUV searched worldwide for project ideas focussing on two thematic priorities:
Promotion of ambitious participatory measures for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions
Integrative measures for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity in cities
The ideas competition was open until 14 January 2025. The most promising ideas were then selected from those submitted and asked to prepare a full proposal. The first projects are due to start in the second quarter of 2026.
By means of the IKI Small Grants, the IKI specifically supports local actors and non-governmental institutions in implementing effective climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation projects. Funding is possible in countries that qualify to receive public development funds, referred to as Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries. The global projects cover the four IKI funding areas.
The IKI Small Grants use two methods to identify local actors worldwide that are eligible for funding. For this purpose, calls for the submission of project proposals, referred to as “International Calls”, are implemented within the framework of the IKI Small Grants. Furthermore, the IKI Small Grants support national funding institutions in implementing their own calls for proposals and ideas competitions and in realising effective projects on site together with local actors. The funding programme is implemented and managed from Germany by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the AA, BMUV and BMWK, which can access the global GIZ network and its offices abroad to support local partners.
In addition to financing local climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation projects, the IKI Small Grants also provide the funded actors with targeted support in improving their internal structures and processes and in training employees. This includes topics such as gender, project management, public relations work and fundraising. The locally managed learning process is the responsibility of the actors and is supported by IKI Small Grants with specific measures and resources. Investing in capacity building strengthens the institutions in the long term, so that their work becomes measurably more effective, thus enabling them to play a more active role in international efforts for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. In addition, all organisations and institutions receive technical and legal/commercial consultation from the GIZ network and the IKI Small Grants team in Berlin.
The funding volume for organisations as part of the “International Calls” is between EUR 60,000 and EUR 200,000. National and regional funding institutions have so far received funds totalling up to EUR 850,000. This figure will be raised to EUR 950,000 in the new funding round.
Current ideas competition for IKI Small Grants
The fifth ideas competition as part of the “International Calls” was open from mid-January to mid-March 2024. A total of 863 project proposals were submitted, of which the BMWK, BMUV and AA approved 37 projects with an anticipated funding volume of EUR 5.9 million.
The sixth call for IKI Small Grants was announced on 18 November 2024 at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Baku (COP29) and ended in mid-March 2025.
In 2024, two organisations implemented a call for project ideas in their country or region as part of the funding line for funding institutions. Projects chosen in a second selection round of other funding institutions in autumn and winter 2024 will start their implementation phase in 2025.
The IKI Small Grants website introduces the programme, presents brief descriptions of the funded projects and shows the successes of the funding. It also serves as a platform for applications for the ideas competitions. Last but not least, the website provides targeted content to support the funded organisations during project implementation.
Alongside the new ideas competitions, further progress was also made in projects already selected in previous calls.
In 2024, a total of 85 new IKI projects started their work. Of these, 56 were selected in earlier thematic and country calls and previous calls for IKI Medium Grants and IKI Small Grants. Others are non-competitive instruments that the IKI uses to make a contribution to existing international funds or funding programmes, for example. Of the project ideas submitted for the 2023 Thematic Call, 12 were asked to prepare detailed project proposals.
A total of 111 projects completed their work. As a result, more than 341 projects were being implemented at the end of the reporting period.
85
IKI projects
started in 2024.
111
IKI projects
successfully completed their work in 2024.
Figures from project work: from project selection to evaluation
Effective, long-term climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation cannot be provided simply by funding alone. The emphasis placed by the IKI on competition ensures that only high-quality project proposals are implemented. To this end, ZUG, GIZ (ISG) and the IKI ministries reviewed 1,210 outlines within the scope of all IKI calls in 2024. In addition, the IKI uses a multistage process to verify the due and proper use of funding provided as well as subject-specific project progress. In 2024, this resulted in the auditing of around 326 mid-term reports and funding records, as well as around 99 final reports and funding records.
326
interim reports
were audited by the IKI Office at ZUG and GIZ in 2024.
1,210
submitted project outlines
were audited by the IKI Office at ZUG and GIZ (ISG) in 2024.
To learn from previous projects, and to assess the goals achieved or expected, as well as their impacts, the IKI uses a number of evaluation instruments. These include retrospective final reviews to assess project success, mid-term-evaluations focusing on learning and accounting procedures, supportive impact evaluations to document long-term impacts as well as strategic evaluations of issues that could be of interest to multiple projects. In 2024, nine mid-term evaluations were in the implementation phase and eight were completed. In addition, two accompanying impact evaluations were continued and one was cancelled as the project was discontinued.
