03 October 2007 - Boxberg,
Germany — Since Monday, activists have taken
action against the construction site for
the Boxberg new coal-fired power plant in
eastern Germany. Their demand is simple;
the owner company, Vattenfall, must stop
building dirty coal plants and instead invest
in clean renewable energy technologies.
The 34 activists camped in cranes on the
site, and hung a giant banner relaying this
to Vattenfall, and small banners with the
message "Stop CO2" were hung from
six cranes on the site. On ground level
the message was clear "Climate change,
powered by Vattenfall."
Wednesday update
On Wednesday, three days later, 11 activists
remained perched on one of the cranes, while
20 volunteers painted "Stop CO2"
onto the side of the smoke stack under construction.
Vattenfall has refused to meet with Greenpeace
to talk about climate change and how the
Boxberg plant will contribute to the global
warming.
Coal is number one climate killer, and
the coal they are planning to burn at Boxberg
is lignite, or brown coal, the dirtiest
type possible. The emissions from Block
R alone, where the blockade is happening,
would discharge 4.4 million tonnes of CO2
a year, equivalent to the entire CO2 emissions
of Costa Rica over the same time.
"Germany repeatedly attempts to establish
itself as a climate protection leader on
the international stage, yet continues to
build filthy lignite power plants. This
makes a mockery of Germany’s climate commitments.
The German government and Vattenfall must
immediately stop construction of coal plants,
and invest in renewable energy instead"
said Gabriela von Goerne, Greenpeace Climate
and Energy Campaigner, at the Boxberg site.
Policy and science reality check
UN scientific findings dictate that industrialised
countries must cut their greenhouse gas
emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050,
to keep global mean temperature rise as
far below 2°C, compared to pre-industrial
levels, as possible, urgently needed to
prevent climate change from spiralling out
of control.
Yet, governments across the world continue
to invest in coal - the dirtiest power source
in the world. If new coal-fired power plants,
across the world, continue to be built at
their current rate, this outdated technology
will account for an enormous 43 percent
of global CO2 emissions within 20 years.
Vattenfall is one of the biggest power
companies in Europe, active in Sweden, Finland,
Germany, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands.
A massive 63 percent of the power they produce
in Germany is generated through brown coal,
despite this the company is aggressively
marketing itself there as climate protection
aware.
What dialogue?
Ironically, given their refusal to meet
with Greenpeace, Vattenfall is running a
massive advertising campaign in German newspapers
calling for dialogue to build trust in the
company.
Well, this is exactly what Greenpeace is
offering them – dialogue. Perhaps it’s the
terms that are scaring them so much. Greenpeace
want to talk about the relationship between
coal and climate change, Vattenfall want
to be considered "climate aware"
while investing heavily in brown coal, the
largest contributor to CO2 emissions possible.
The volunteers are heading down from the
cranes now, but their demand for concrete
answers from Vattenfall about their climate
change policy remains. The three day continuous
presence at the Boxberg site is just the
beginning for this campaign.
Update - 4 October 2007 - Protest is over,
for now. The activists on the crane stayed
there for over 60 hours, even through horrendous
rain. The protesters (from Poland, Denmark,
Swiss, Czech and Germany) have now left
the site. But our energy revolution continues.
