2024-05-04 09:37:37
A group of climate activists is offering the energy company 1.5 million euros for a piece of land in the Rhenish district. They want to ensure that the coal stays there in the ground.
A small group of climate activists has appealed for donations in order to be able to buy land from the energy company RWE next to the demolished village of Lützerath in the Rhenish lignite mining area. Under the motto “Coal for coal” they want to offer RWE 1.5 million euros for an area of 1.5 square kilometers and thus ensure that the underlying coal remains in the ground. The money will be raised through crowdfunding.
Climate activist Lilith Rein announced in Cologne that the purchase proposal will also be presented at RWE’s digital shareholders’ general meeting. A spokesman for RWE did not want to comment on the offer when asked. The spokesman said everything was known and said about the former Lützerath settlement, which was used by open-cast mining around a year ago.
When asked where RWE’s interest in a sale actually lay, Rein said that RWE had the declared goal of switching to renewable energies and that the group was being offered a “very good way out” of the fossil era.
When the plan was launched, geologist and climate activist Nikolaus Froitzheim from the University of Bonn said the past few months had been extremely hot months worldwide. “Climatologists and meteorologists are stunned by this, but the public doesn’t take much notice of it,” criticized the scientist.
Rein said that the offer to RWE was only organized by a small group of activists, but that they were supported by many civil society organizations and NGOs. The village of Lützerath was cleared and demolished last year after mass protests and a huge police operation.