The Kintrishi river in Georgia

    Core area “Climate and energy, just transition” Fostering renewable energy, making urban development sustainable

    Georgia has expressly committed itself to the internationally agreed climate goals of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. It wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions significantly. The energy sector plays an important role in that regard. Georgia already generates up to 70 per cent of its electricity from hydropower.

    In the past few years, the country has already significantly increased the capacity of its energy sector with support from Germany. The BMZ has been supporting the energy sector reform in Georgia since 2018 and also advises the Georgian government on achieving ambitious climate and energy targets.

    As a result of the energy sector reform, Georgia has been able to launch key legislation and national development plans on topics such as energy efficiency and the development of an energy market. Georgian-German cooperation now focuses on boosting energy efficiency in public buildings, promoting renewable energy and reducing power loss in transmission systems.


    Modernising municipal infrastructure, developing new transport strategies

    The second focus of Germany's activities in this core area is sustainable urban development. Increasing urbanisation, accompanied by inadequate planning of necessary urban infrastructure, has led to an investment backlog in Georgian municipalities going back several decades. In large parts of the country, the drinking water supply and wastewater and waste management systems are inadequate. The same goes for transport infrastructure.

    For many years, Georgian-German development cooperation in this field was focused on modernising and expanding the entire drinking water and sanitation system of Batumi, the country's second-largest city, which is a port city on the Black Sea and an important tourist destination in the region. Some 230,000 people there now benefit from reliable safe drinking water supplies. The number of tourists visiting Batumi has increased significantly, also due to these improvements. This has helped to secure 60,000 local jobs.

    In order to reduce the volume of waste and of greenhouse gas emissions, the BMZ is also providing support, through KfW Development Bank, towards the development of a functioning waste management system and circular economy.

    Efforts are also under way in the capital, Tbilisi, and – on a smaller scale – in Batumi to pursue new approaches for urban transport systems that are climate-friendly and environmentally sound. The focus of these activities will be on innovative systems for effective traffic guidance, the expansion of local public transport, and efforts to foster bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

    to the overview page on Georgia

    As at: 08/06/2022