“German foreign aid is at record high and rising”

Germany is a reluctant global leader but persistently works on providing assistance to developing countries, not least in the energy sector, Catherine Cheney writes on international development website devex.com. Effective development assistance must be based on good cooperation, meaning that “it's more Made with Germany, and less Made in Germany”, Chris Meyer Zu Natrup, managing director at development association MzN International, said. The country’s experience with the Energiewende means staff members of Germany`s central development organisation GIZ were “highly sought after around the world for expertise on energy”, Cheney writes. Germany’s G20 leadership and the COP23 in Bonn add to its importance on the global climate protection stage in 2017, she explains. In times of mounting nationalism across the Western world, “this country that has remade itself three times in 100 years” needs to be watched closely in the near future, Cheney adds.

Read the article in English here.

For background, see the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and its implications for international security.