Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development : Boost for Ger­man sus­tain­abil­ity pol­icy

Press release of 11.01.2017 |

BERLIN - 'One World - Our Responsibility': Germany has sent a strong signal for a new sense of global responsibility and is tackling the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which the international community adopted in 2015.

Following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Strategy in Cabinet, German Development Minister Gerd Müller said:

'This new Strategy makes a huge difference to Germany's sustainability policy and, thus, to all of us. Our goal is to build a world without hunger and to protect the natural resources that ensure our survival. What we do in Germany has a global impact. Through its Sustainable Development Strategy, the German government is shouldering its responsibility. Sustainability must become our fundamental attitude in life. Each of us can contribute in very practical ways in order to make globalisation fair: through the way we eat, through the clothes we wear and through our consumption patterns. It became clear a long time ago that we are living in One World and each of us has responsibility for it. This is also the guiding principle of Germany's development policy.'

The Sustainable Development Strategy charts a course for Germany to tackle issues such as climate action, urbanisation, sustainable consumption patterns, fair trade, and equal opportunities for girls and women. It mentions a number of specific projects through which Germany is contributing to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the field of development cooperation. For example, the has launched a special initiative called 'One World - No Hunger', which focuses on reducing hunger and malnutrition. It has set up thirteen green innovation centres, assisting 500,000 smallholder farms.

Every year, the BMZ launches climate change mitigation programmes that save more than 200 million tonnes of emissions. This is equivalent to the emissions of 100 coal power plants. The BMZ also supports Africa as a whole along the road towards sustainable energy generation. Thanks to Germany's support for the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), energy generation from renewable sources is to reach a level by 2020 that is equivalent to ten coal power plants. The BMZ is glad to act as a competent partner for climate solutions in emerging and developing economies. The Ministry already accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the German government's investments in international climate action.

In order to implement its education strategy, which was published earlier and is entitled 'Creating equitable opportunities for quality education', the BMZ works with its partner countries in the fields of basic education in the broad sense, vocational education and higher education. Germany is the world's largest donor of bilateral official development cooperation support in the area of vocational training. The regional focus of these efforts is on Africa, and this includes regions from which people migrate or have become displaced.

The new edition of the Sustainable Development Strategy adopted today represents the most comprehensive revision of the strategy since its first adoption in 2002. By revising Germany's Sustainable Development Strategy, the German government has charted a course for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. That Agenda applies universally to all countries - industrialised countries, emerging economies and developing countries alike.