Environment

A giant black mark on Germany’s environmental record is scarred on the land an hour’s drive from the venue of this year’s UN climate talks in Bonn. Stretching across 85 square km and around 370 metres deep, the opencast coalmine near Hambach forest is the biggest hole in Europe and one of the biggest single sources of carbon on the continent. It it also a frontline for a growing band of environmental defenders who – believing it is better to break the law than the climate – are engaged in direct action campaigns against the fossil fuel industry. On Sunday, several thousand people occupied the RWE-run mine and surrounded the 10-storey high excavators before being ejected by police. Dozens of others have built treehouse camps in the neighbouring forest in an effort to prevent the lignite mine expanding any further. According to the Environmental Justice Map, this is one of 70 “Blockadia” campaigns worldwide – including efforts to halt the … [Read more...] about Germany’s dirty coalmines become the focus for a new wave of direct action

A group of villagers living on the edge of one of Germany’s biggest surface coalmines have vowed not sell their properties to the energy company RWE, and to mount a legal challenge against any attempt to oust them from their homes. The protest alliance is the first coordinated effort in more than 10 years against the expansion of the Garzweiler mine in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which threatens the existence of 12 villages that are home to 7,600 residents. Demolition of the first four villages is scheduled to begin in 2023. Acting under the name Menschenrecht vor Bergrecht – Human Rights Before Mining Rights – the alliance of villagers announced at a press conference in Düsseldorf on Monday they would refuse an expropriation agreement with RWE under which the energy company would pay to resettle them. This would mean the company would have to apply to the regional government for formal permission to dispossess the residents. But the villagers … [Read more...] about ‘Human rights before mining rights’: German villagers take on coal firm

One of the UK’s eight remaining coal power stations is expected to cease generating electricity this year, the government has said as it laid out new rules that will force all the plants to close by 2025. The coal phase-out is one of the Conservative party’s flagship green policies, and the long-awaited implementation plan comes ahead of a speech by Theresa May on the environment next week. While three plants shut in 2016, and most are expected to halt operations by 2022, the last ones standing will be forced to close in October 2025 because of new pollution standards. However, the plan reveals the sector will continue to be propped up by hundreds of millions of pounds in backup power subsidies for several years, paid through consumer energy bills. Experts said allowing coal operators to continue receiving capacity market subsidies had thrown the sector an unnecessary lifeline. Dr Jonathan Marshall, energy analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a UK-based … [Read more...] about UK government spells out plan to shut down coal plants

When Greta Thunberg began her school strike outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, she was alone. Within months, thousands and then millions followed her example. Some of the most enthusiastic school strikers have been in Belgium, inadvertently launching a national movement that bridges the country’s entrenched linguistic divide. In the first few months of this year, Belgian teenagers organised 20 weeks of school strikes, events that led to the resignation of a regional environment minister, who had made false claims that the strikes were directed by foreign powers. Last month, two of the young women who led the Belgian school strikes embarked on a transatlantic voyage to South America with the initial goal of reaching the UN climate conference in Chile. But events did not go to plan. Four weeks into the journey, 36 climate activists from across Europe sailing on the Regina Maris schooner had reached Cape Verde, the island nation off the coast of west Africa, when they heard of … [Read more...] about School strikers try to unite divided Belgium over climate crisis

A trio of central European countries have blocked the EU from inching closer to a net-zero carbon emissions target for 2050. European leaders meeting in Brussels sparred over the EU’s role in tackling the unfolding climate emergency, which threatens to significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat, poverty and destruction of wildlife around the world. Dashing earlier hopes of a compromise, Poland and the Czech Republic refused to sign up to a text that referred to a climate-neutral EU by 2050 – a target that was already seen as too vague by green activists. In a further blow, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, joined his neighbours in opposing the EU text, despite earlier signs the country was ready to compromise. Supporters of the 2050 plan hoped the EU could show it was moving in that direction ahead of a major UN climate summit in September. Instead the 2050 date was dropped into a footnote that stated: “For a large majority of … [Read more...] about Central European countries block EU moves towards 2050 zero carbon goal