As Climate Reality Europe, in collaboration with our German team represented by its National Coordinator, Enno Steffens, as well as National & Regional Coordinators across Europe, we sent an open letter to Ambassador Michael Clauss, Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union calling for a sustainable energy mix in Germany. Similar letters were sent to all German Ambassadors in Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
The open letter is a response to the recent expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine, which led to clashes between climate activists and the police.
Oftentimes, open-pit coal mines bring negative effects to communities living nearby, as represented in a video made by the German Climate Reality Europe team 4 years ago. Watch it here & read the text of today's open letter below:
Dear Ambassador,
Neither lignite nor any other fossil fuels should be the answer to the current challenges generated by the Russian war in Ukraine.
As an organization of over 45 thousand climate activists worldwide, out of which 4 thousand are based in Europe, we advocate for climate action and energy transformation based on just solutions.
The ongoing extension of the Garzweiler open-pit mine undermines the hope of European citizens to meet the Paris Agreement goals by overshooting the carbon budget. Nine out of ten Europeans agree that greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced to a minimum while offsetting remaining emissions to make the EU climate neutral by 2050 according to the 2021 Eurobarometer survey.
We urgently call on German decision-makers to follow the scientific consensus and refrain from further fossil fuel investments as advised by renowned organizations, such as the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency, to keep the 1.5ºC global warming limit possible. We ask you to enter a dialogue with the youth, climate activists, local community members, and other relevant stakeholders to stay on track to achieving climate neutrality much earlier than 2050 both in Germany and in Europe.
Challenging times require bold actions to build a sustainable future, and the world is looking at Germany, Europe’s largest economy, as a climate leader.
We have no time to lose. Germany has the technology and the financial power - now we need the political commitments to become a reality.
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