As part of the German Federal Government’s International Climate Initiative (German: Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative, or IKI for short), and the "Strategic Environmental Dialogues" project (German: Strategische Umweltdialoge, SUD), the German Corporation for International Cooperation (German: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, or GIZ for short) advises the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (German: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Klimaschutz, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit, BMUKN) on knowledge exchange and dialogue with decision-makers at the political level in developing and emerging countries. Representatives from the private sector, civil society, and academia have also been included in the dialogue.
To support the SUD project, GIZ commissioned the Wuppertal Institute to produce a brief expert report and to organise a subsequent expert discussion on issues of resource efficiency and circularity of green technologies. The focus was on relations between Germany and China and on the role of metals in transition processes.