Last Friday, the German parliament (the Bundestag) approved its 2009 budget with a $1.1 billion (800 million Euro) increase in development assistance spending for next year.

This is great news and marks the third year in a row that Germany has made impressive increases in development spending. This is an increase of more than 12% since 2008, the largest for any ministry in Germany. We know that this money will make a difference- it can be used, for example, to buy and distribute 180 million insecticide treated bed nets or to supply 5.5 million AIDS-patients with antiretroviral treatment for a whole year.

A substantial portion of the increase (225 million Euro) will be generated through an innovative financing scheme launched by the German government last year. Through this scheme, Co2-certificates are auctioned off to German industry to help pay for development projects. Development funding from this source has almost doubled since 2008- from 120 million to 225 million Euro. Steep increases can be expected in the years ahead. And for the first time, in 2009 these funds can be partly used for development assistance in any sector (as opposed to being fully earmarked for funding climate-related activities like adaptation and mitigation).

This decision pushes Germany a step closer towards fulfilling its aid commitments to the world’s poorest countries. However, increases from Germany and the rest of the G8 will need to accelerate much faster to meet the promises made in 2005 at the Gleneagles summit. Here in Europe, we’re hopeful that President-elect Obama’s commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals and doubling foreign assistance will play an exemplary role for Germany and the rest of the EU and inject new momentum into meeting these commitments.

-Andreas Huebers, ONE Germany