Climate activists challenge expansion of Garzweiler open-pit coal mine by RBC-financed RWE in Lützerath, Germany

Video by Ende Gelände #LütziBleibt.

The Associated Press reports: “Several hundred climate activists tried Tuesday [January 10] to prevent heavy machinery from reaching an abandoned village in Germany that is due to be cleared for the expansion of a coal mine, even as police pushed back protesters and removed road blocks ahead of a possible clearance this week.”

“About 300 people refused to heed the ruling arguing that civil disobedience at the site was justified in the face of the climate crisis.”

The article adds: “Climate campaigners say [the expansion of] the massive open-cast Garzweiler mine goes against Germany’s international commitments to reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases.”

On January 8, Mining.com had reported that about 1,500 climate activists were in the town that has now been declared an exclusion zone.

The BBC adds: “The land around and under Lützerath is rich in lignite – the dirtiest form of coal. The mine, a bleak and dull brown man-made canyon which stretches over 35 square kilometres, yields 25 million tonnes of the stuff every year.”

And Izquierda Diario MX comments: “With the expansion of the Garzweiler II quarry, where the village is located, 650 million tons of lignite could be extracted, and the impact on climate change would be catastrophic.”

RWE AG is a German transnational energy company headquartered in Essen.

As noted in the Banking on Climate Chaos website, the Canadian bank RBC provided USD 71.42 million to RWE in 2019.

Overall, RBC provided $372 million in financing to coal mining companies and 1.938 billion to coal power companies between 2016 to 2021 (as noted on pages 61-62 of Banking on Climate Chaos: Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2022).

Video by Ende Gelände #LütziBleibt.