Climate activists have vowed to protect a small German village from being razed to expand a nearby coal mine, which has become a flashpoint in the conflict between the government and environmental activists.
Hundreds of people from across Germany gathered for protest training and a subsequent demonstration in the hamlet of Luetzerath, which lies west of Cologne next to the vast Garzweiler coal mine.
According to a deal reached this year between the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and utility firm RWE, the open-cast mine, which supplies a significant portion of the lignite — a soft, brownish coal — burnt at local power plants, is expected to close by 2030.
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According to the company, coal is needed to maintain Germany’s energy security, which has been compromised as a result of the reduction in Russian gas imports since the invasion of Ukraine.
Environmental organizations, however, have denounced the pact, claiming it will still lead to the extraction and burning of hundreds of millions of tons of coal.
They contend that doing so would result in significant greenhouse gas emissions and render Germany’s compliance with its obligations under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement untenable.
Using the effects that climate change is already having on Germany and other countries as justification, prominent campaigners have organized support to save the community from destruction.
Story was adapted from VOA.
