Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Berlin wants to provide €2 billion ($2.2 billion) for the Green Climate Fund, which benefits emerging and developing countries, at a lead-up conference to the COP28 climate meeting hosted by the German Foreign Office.
He also explained how the transformation to climate neutrality requires financial support, during comments at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue on Wednesday.
This makes Germany the first major donor to announce its contribution for the financing conference due to be held in October in Bonn.
The money is intended for emerging and developing countries, to enable them to invest in climate protection projects, adapt to climate change and build more climate-friendly economies.
German Development Minister Svenja Schulze said the sum was "a strong sign," and that she "links this commitment the expectation that other states will also contribute according to their capacity."
Scholz is also pushing for a binding global target for the expansion of renewable energies at the next climate conference and called for a "tripling of the expansion" by 2030. "This would send a clear signal to the real economy and the financial sector about where we are heading," he said.
Representatives from some 40 countries are among the attendees of the conference held in Germany annually since 2010, this time to prepare the United Nation's COP28 climate change conference set to take place in Dubai in November.
However, climate activists criticized Scholz, saying investments in renewable energy are insufficient and that a phase-out of all fossil fuels is also necessary.
