The year 2024 highlighted the critical intersections between addressing climate change, preserving biodiversity, and preventing desertification. With major international conferences held on each of these issues — COP29 in Baku (climate change), COP16 in Cali (biodiversity), and COP16 in Riyadh (desertification) —, the international negotiations underlined the importance of partnerships in rising to these global challenges.
The partnership between Germany and China is serving to enhance understanding of the challenges, and to exchange on solutions to advance climate and environmental action, particularly in areas such as energy transition, climate finance, and biodiversity conservation. To reflect on COP outcomes as well as to facilitate exchange and collaboration between donors and implementers of the climate and environment community in Beijing the “Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Nationally Determined Contributions Implementation” project, as part of its function as the interface for the IKI in China, organised a networking event in Beijing on 11 December 2024. The event was attended by China representatives from international organizations, think tanks and academic institutions including the United Nations Development Programme, World Economic Forum, C40, World Resources Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, Agora Energy Transition, Environmental Defense Fund, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, One Earth Foundation, Shan Shui Conservation Center, Institute of Finance and Sustainability, and the Beijing Institute of Technology.
During the event, representatives from the German Embassy in Beijing highlighted the crucial role of exchanges between nations to drive progress and pointed out the significance of Sino-German cooperation in advancing the international negotiations.
Despite some progress at COP29 and COP16, several critical issues remain unresolved. In his presentation, Dr. Zhang Jian, Vice President of the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University, reflected on the outcomes of COP29 on climate and noted that significant gaps in climate finance persisted, procedures and logistics of the Global Stocktake (GST) needed to be refined, and key initiatives such as the Technology Implementation Programme (TIP) and the Just Transition Work Programme were not advancing. Dr. Zhang stressed that future COP negotiations must prioritise inclusive, innovative solutions to bridge existing divides as changes in governments and unilateral measures add to the challenge.
COP16 on biodiversity in Cali saw mixed results according to a presentation by Ms. Xu Jiayi, Programs Director of Greenovation Hub. While there was some progress, such as the establishment of the “Cali Fund” for Digital Sequence Information (DSI) and new mechanisms for identifying Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs), key decisions on resource mobilisation and finance mechanisms were not finalised. Ms. Xu cautioned that “a weak deal is worse than no deal,” reflecting concerns about the insufficient ambition of the final agreements.
A major takeaway from the 2024 COP discussions was the recognition that climate change and biodiversity loss are interconnected and must be addressed together. Participants emphasised that solutions cannot be left to environmental or climate experts alone; the entire society must engage in action.
The workshop ended with an open discussion on the outcomes of the COPs, the implications for the work of attending organisations, and the potential for further exchange and collaboration.
This activity is part of the Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Nationally Determined Contributions Implementation (NDCI) project, a bilateral cooperation project commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), cooperating with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China (MEE). The project is jointly implemented by GIZ and China’s National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC).
