Of islands and ghost towns: Here and no further for Germany’s lignite mines
Date: 29 July 2015
A friend of mine recently told me about her visit to a small village in Germany’s Rhineland, some 50 kilometres from Cologne. It was a beautiful summer’s day and she took a walk enjoying the peace and rural bliss around Holzweiler until a voice shouted, “I wouldn’t go there!” A man walking his dog approached. “It’s a ghost town! There’s only a few souls out there.”
Immerath, another village just about two kilometres east of Holzweiler is almost entirely deserted, waiting to be dug up and disappear in the vast moonscape of utility RWE’s lignite mine Garzweiler. In a couple of years, Holzweiler will be the only village in the area left behind, transformed into an island, surrounded by a giant hole that will have swallowed its neighbouring villages. With easterly winds you can hear the diggers approaching unceasingly – day and night.
It is cruel that people lose their home, entire communities are dug up and thousands suffer from the pollution of some of the oldest and dirtiest coal power plants in Europe. It’s even more distressing given that Germany does not need lignite, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, to meet energy demand. A Greenpeace-commissioned study found that almost half of Germany’s coal plants could be switched off immediately. To put the cherry on the cake, this destruction is not even economic. Forty-five percent of RWE’s fossil fuel power stations are no longer commercially viable.
Industry experts accuse RWE of intentionally keeping its lignite plants open to secure a public bail-out – a strategy that appears to be paying off. The government initially planned to lower emissions by making the worst polluters pay, but instead RWE and its allies successfully lobbied for a so-called capacity reserve, which will make consumers and taxpayers pay lignite plants to go on standby.
When Germany started its transition to a low-carbon economy, RWE decided to stick to its old business model and as a result, is now struggling to compete. RWE’s share price has dropped 70% since 2007 and it has accumulated €31 billion in net debt. It is not just RWE, the whole coal industry as such is in rapid decline. A recent article in Bloomberg described coal as a sick dragon that is dying.
The question is, how quickly and which way it is going to die – and who is going to foot the bill. Germany’s case should serve as a reminder that even though the fossil fuel industry is on its way out, it still has the political power to dictate policies against all odds. If we’re going to tip the balance of power away from big polluters, we’re going to have to fight for it.
This summer, people will teach the likes of RWE and their allies the first law of holes – when you’re in one, stop digging. Hundreds of people from all over Europe will come to the Rhineland to force Europe’s single biggest emitter to stop the diggers. The action called Ende Gelände, which translates as this far and no further, will make it clear that we won’t let polluters like RWE continue to carry out their destructive business model. It will be an action in solidarity with people affected locally but it will also be an action for climate justice.
The Rhineland coalfields are the biggest source of CO2 in Europe, driving us all into climate chaos that hits the most vulnerable first and hardest. According to research from the London School of Economics, ninety percent of Europe’s coal reserves need to remain in the ground to keep global temperature rise below 2C. It is a matter of global justice to stop RWE and other big polluters from continuing to carry out their destructive business model.
If challenging the power of big polluters like RWE and Vattenfall seems futile, it was these very same companies that have been forced to phase out their nuclear power operations thanks to a strong anti-nuclear movement that mobilised thousands to block the transportation of nuclear waste. Governments won’t ensure unburnable fossil fuels stay in the ground, they won’t make polluters pay, and they won’t invest in a just transition for workers and communities that will be impacted by the rapid decline of coal – unless we fight for it.
At first sight, most people won’t see much more in Holzweiler other than an unknown village with a grim future, where a summery walk intersects with eeriness and devasttation. Holzweiler however also stands for millions of people all over the world at the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction and injustice. This summer, it will take centre stage as people from across Europe take bold action in the fight for social and climate justice.
Find out more about Ende Gelände.
