A reason to celebrate: the IKI turns 15!
#15yearsIKI #IKIanniversary
Over 950 projects for climate change mitigation and biodiversity, activities in over 150 developing and emerging countries and a financial volume of almost 6 billion euros. This is the starting balance of “15 years of IKI”.
A good reason to celebrate and an even better reason to look back at the milestones and forward to the future of the IKI. What have we achieved to date, what issues are currently confronting the IKI, what aims do we want to achieve next - and who are the people behind the IKI who breathe life into it every day?
The IKI anniversary year – “Committed to the planet and the people”
The IKI’s 15th anniversary is an excellent opportunity over the coming months to highlight the IKI funding programme and its projects via our various communication channels under the motto “Committed to the planet and the people”.
IKI live: events in 2023
The IKI will be represented at numerous events and will be available on site for discussions and questions about the funding programme. One focus is on events that will take place in Germany, like
Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue Conference 2023 at the end of March (IKI article)
Export Dialogue 2023 (Exportdialog 2023: Gemeinsam Transformation gestalten) on 20. April
Global NDC Conference (31. Mai to 2. June)
Federal Government Open Day 2023 (19. and 20. August)
The IKI anniversary will also be celebrated and publicised in the partner countries, notably through our interface projects in the 14 IKI priority countries.
Not to be missed of course is the annual World Climate Summit (COP28), which will be held in Dubai in December. The IKI will again participate in numerous ways, and will use the international framework for networking activities and will end the anniversary year with COP28.
2008 to 2023: the challenges are growing, but the IKI is growing with them
Looking at the year 2008
2008 was marked by the global financial crisis, the 9th Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP) took place in Bonn, delegates met at the World Climate Summit (COP9) in Poznan in Poland and the Federal Environment Ministry launched a new funding programme, the International Climate Initiative (IKI).
The first activities were implemented in Ethiopia, Brazil and Central Asia. Since then, the programme, its portfolio, visibility and funding volume have grown steadily.
The framework conditions to ensure a constant improvement in the project quality have also grown and developed.
Selection of IKI projects 2008
- Project assessment for the exchange of know-how on climate change and water management in Ethiopia
- Master Plan to Harness CDM Biogas Potential in Rio Grande do Sul
- Programme to Improve Energy Efficiency in Mountain Villages in Central Asia
- Low Carbon Economic Zones
- Gender Justice in the Climate Debate
- Rainforest Conservation and Support for the Indigenous Population in the Amazon Basin
- Insurance Instruments for Adaptation to Climate Change
- Climate Protection in Nature-Based Tourism
Looking at the year 2023
2023 is still overshadowed by the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, while climate change and species extinction are intensifying worldwide, the consequences of the two mega-crises are becoming increasingly clear.
The Federal Government is stepping up its measures to meet the challenges, and this is also reflected in the orientation of the IKI. Three ministries, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action, the Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Foreign Office, have been responsible for the IKI since 2022, and are pooling their strengths to support the funding programme.
IKI strengths: innovation, cooperation and continuity
From the outset, the IKI has focused on close cooperation in partnership with the developing and emerging countries in which it implements projects. And not only on its 15th anniversary is it becoming clear that the IKI is a permanent fixture in the funding landscape and thus a reliable partner for climate protection and the conservation of biodiversity.
At the same time, the programme is constantly evolving and is therefore responding to current developments, both in terms of theme and structure.
For example, we have been designing projects on ecosystem-based adaptation since 2011, and we have implemented projects on NDC support for partner countries even before the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015. The current aspects of the IKI’s work are focusing on, for example, climate-friendly financial flows (e.g. divestment strategies), agri-photovoltaics and the resilience of Pacific island states.
Since 2017, the funding structure of the IKI has included thematic calls whereby large-volume projects are funded that tackle urgent issues and since 2018 there are country calls for the targeted bilateral funding in specific partner countries. The IKI Small Grants and the IKI Medium Grants were launched in 2019.
The same applies to all IKI activities, regardless of the topic or approach of the respective selection procedure: functioning approaches that contribute to climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation should be made visible and disseminated to ensure the maximum impact of the funding programme.
IKI development in a nutshell
2008: IKI foundation at the Federal Ministry for the Environment
2011: launch of the biodiversity funding area
2013: IKI starts supporting the Green Climate Fund
2014: launch of IKI project Support to selected partner countries in developing their INDCs
2015: introduction of IKI standard indicators
2016: start of publication of IATI data (quarterly)
2017: the fist IKI Thematic Call
2018: the first IKI Country Call
2019: start of the IKI Small Grants and IKI Medium Grants
2020: Corona Response Package - rapid assistance for sustainable recovery
2021: launch of the IKI Gender Strategy
2021: IKI change of departments - the funding programme is now the joint responsibility of the BMWK, BMUV and AA
2022: launch of the Independent Complaint Mechanism
2023: the IKI Safguards Policy comes into force
Reports from the IKI
We now have over 200 video reports produced in cooperation with Deutsche Welle (the German public, state-owned international broadcaster) that provide some insights into the work of the IKI projects since 2008:
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