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Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership

Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership 

As the world’s largest annual emitter of greenhouse gases, China’s success in reducing emissions and achieving its climate goals are essential for achieving the goal of the Paris agreement to keep the rise in global temperature well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. China has set itself the climate policy targets of peaking emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060. Achieving these targets and the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) poses challenges to the country. China’s success in decarbonizing and transforming its economy and realizing its climate targets are not only crucial in themselves, but also an important signal for the global community to take effective, comprehensive, and ambitious action on climate change.  

To overcome the challenges and achieve its national targets, the Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership facilitates technical cooperation between China and Germany. 

The Climate Partnership is one of the most longstanding projects of the German International Climate Initiative (IKI) in China. The first phase of the Climate Partnership began in 2011. Currently in its fourth phase, the project focuses on fostering political and technical dialogues on three levels: (i) the political dialogue at ministerial level; (ii) the technical exchange, particularly through the Sino–German Track II dialogue on climate change and sustainable development; and (iii) the exchange among German and Chinese universities through joint study camps and a series of talks, the NextGen Climate Dialogue. Through its different formats, the Climate Partnership is acting as a vehicle to keep communication channels between two important industrial nations open. The overall objective of the fourth phase of the Climate Partnership is to support the MEE to effectively design and implement climate policy within the framework of China’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and the 14th Five-Year Plan to achieve China’s NDC targets for 2030 earlier and to foster an ambitious continuation of NDC implementation in the 15th Five-Year Plan. 

The Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership supports China in fulfilling the climate goals for 2030 and implementing the Chinese NDC and climate policies set out in its 14th Five-Year Plan. Specifically, the Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership supports political and expert climate dialogues, such as the Working Group on Environment and Climate Change and the Track II Dialogue. Based on existing experiences in Sino-German exchanges on climate policies, the capacities of Chinese partners will be strengthened for implementing climate cooperation projects in/with third countries. Through the work stream on green/climate finance, the project promotes the understanding of technical and policy capacities of relevant stakeholders in the system.

 

Project Factsheet
Project Factsheet
DURATION
5 years
11/2020

04/2026
ComMissioned by
AA+IKI_2022_FZ_DTP_CMYK_en
Predecessor Project:
Sino-German Climate Partnership – Phase III

What we work on

  • Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership

    Promoting Climate Dialogues

    In the field of bilateral high-level political cooperation, the project supports the annual Sino-German Environment and Climate Change Working Group meeting, in which government officials hold exchanges on international and domestic climate policy development and areas of existing and potential future bilateral cooperation within the framework of the IKI. Furthermore, the Sino-German Track-2-Dialogue is held among leading scientists and experts from the institutions tasked with climate change policy in each country. Across six working groups, the dialogue addresses many of the most pressing issues in the field of climate policy and connected fields, such as UNFCCC negotiations, accounting and monitoring, carbon sinks, and more. Through these activities, GIZ is helping to further mutual understanding between both countries on key issues, informing and strengthening official bilateral engagement, and delivering constructive bilateral impact on the multilateral climate policy process, for instance by hosting jointly organized UNFCCC COP side-events. The outputs of this international scientific collaboration are in-depth expert advice and policy recommendations for the domestic implementation of the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement.
  • Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership

    Trilateral Climate Cooperation

    To tackle the global climate issue, both China and Germany have repeatedly affirmed the importance of strengthening climate actions in third countries through joint efforts. The project created platforms for international knowledge exchange between Chinese, German, and other European experts on avenues for multilateral cooperation, as well as bilateral and multilateral climate funding mechanisms, and pilots a joint technical capacity building training on climate and sustainable finance in a country of the global south.
  • Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership

    Green Finance/Climate Finance

    To help promote green and climate finance in China, the project focuses on strengthening the role of related policymakers, including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, as well as improving the know-how of financial market professionals. The project provides policy analysis and recommendations and other knowledge products to support exchanges among government representatives, financial actors, industry experts, and academics. Conferences and workshops targeting different stakeholders, such as representatives of China’s largest banks, are held in cooperation with leading think tanks and research organizations and cooperate on both general issues in climate finance, as well as concrete issues such as carbon accounting in the building sector, or loss and damage from climate disasters in the insurance industry.
  • Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – Climate Partnership

    Science Popularization

    As ambitious climate change policy can only be effective if there is widespread societal support for itself as well as understanding of the science of climate change, the project is actively working on popularizing the scientific background and general understanding of climate action. In collaboration with leading universities from both countries, it is organizing the NextGen Climate Dialogue series, featuring experts and policymakers to give talks to student audiences. It also organizes two Sino-German study camps with the Technical University of Munich and Tsinghua University to promote international exchange on climate policy and strengthen the next generation of climate leaders, while also deepening networks of cooperation between Chinese and German academic institutions.

Partners

News

10 years after the Paris Agreement: financing the acceleration of global climate action on the road to COP 30

2025 06 25

A decade has passed since most of the jurisdictions united behind the Paris Agreement, setting a collective climate ambition to limit global warming and steer humanity towards a more sustainable future. During its 10th anniversary, GIZ and the World Resources Institute (WRI) co-hosted a subforum themed on “Towards COP30: Financing the Acceleration of Global Climate Action” in Beijing on 22 May 2025, with support from the Climate Investment and Finance Committee of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences (CIFA).

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From campus to climate action: rethinking transport for a greener future

2025 04 11

Sustainable transportation is a key pillar in the global fight against climate change. As countries strive to reduce carbon emissions, the freight transport sector remains one of the most challenging areas to decarbonise. Tackling this issue requires innovative solutions, supportive policy frameworks, and robust cross-border collaboration. Young professionals and future leaders have a crucial role to play in this effort, bringing fresh perspectives and fostering international dialogue on sustainable mobility. Against this backdrop, a dynamic exchange on sustainable freight transport and climate protection was convened at Beijing Transport University on 3 April 2025, bringing together over 100 Chinese students and German experts.

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Energy security and climate change: key outcomes from the Sino-German Track II Dialogue presented at COP29 

2025 01 08

In the afternoon of 19 November 2024, the outcomes of the Sino-German Track II Dialogue on Climate Change and Sustainable Development were presented during a side event at the China Pavilion of the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. The side event was organized by the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC) and co-organized by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Committee of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences, Hebei University of Economics and Trade, and Azerbaijan State University.

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Publications

Climate Cooperation China
On behalf of the International Climate Initiative (IKI)

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37 Maizidian Street, Chaoyang District
100125 Beijing, PR China
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