Germany spent EUR 11 billion on international climate finance last year.

Omissions

• The exact official 2025 total is EUR 10.8 billion, not EUR 11 billion; the speaker rounds up by roughly EUR 0.2 billion (≈1.8%), which is within normal rounding tolerance but slightly flatters the figure in the direction of a larger sum.
• Context omitted by the speaker: German international climate finance FELL from EUR 11.8 billion in 2024 to EUR 10.8 billion in 2025, and the government missed its own pledge of at least EUR 6 billion per year in budgetary resources for climate finance (with only around EUR 6.1 billion provided through mobilised instruments/loans, and budget funds below the pledge).
• The total includes grants, loans, equity and other instruments as well as mobilised private investments, not only budgetary grants — a distinction relevant to the speaker's rhetorical framing.
• The first part of the original statement (EUR 21.4 billion paid by Germans in CO2 taxes in the last year) is outside the scope of this verification (normalized claim covers only international climate finance) and was not assessed here.
• The precise 2025 climate finance figures were published only days before the session (16 October 2026); the speaker could have known them, but they are very recent and subject to later revision.

Sources

• PrimaryBMZ – Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, 'Climate finance'"Over the last few years, Germany has contributed significantly to international climate finance. In 2025, Germany's contributions totalled 10.8 billion euros."
• PrimaryBundesumweltministerium (BMU) – press release 'International climate finance 2024: Germany remains reliable partner'"Germany's international climate finance last year totalled 11.8 billion euros, of which 6.1 billion euros came from the federal budget." (2024 reference year)
• SecondaryGerman Climate Finance (NGO platform), 'Decreasing amounts, dominated by loans, broken promises ahead of COP31'"...10.8 billion euros in 2025, provided in the form of grants, loans, equity and other instruments as well as mobilised private investments."
• SecondaryTable.Media – Table.Alert climate briefing"More private funding had been mobilized, meaning total climate finance fell by only €1 billion, from €11.8 billion in 2024 to €10.8 billion in 2025."