Klima-Allianz Deutschland | |
| Formation | 24 April 2007 |
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| Type | Advocacy group |
| Headquarters | Berlin |
| Location |
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| Website | www |
Climate-Alliance Germany (German : Klima-Allianz Deutschland) is a network of about 150 civil society organizations, including environment groups, development groups, churches, organisations from the fields of youth, education, culture, social welfare and health, as well as trade unions, and consumer associations. [1] [2] Founded in 2007, the aim of the Alliance is to provide a common front to apply pressure to German decision-makers to adopt socially just climate action measures. [3] Prominent members include WWF, BUND (or Friends of the Earth Germany), and the trade union ver.di.
A key issue for the Alliance is the prevention of new coal-fired power plants (the Anti-Coal Campaign). [4] The Alliance wants the German government to phase-out coal (Kohleausstieg) and promote renewable energy.
Coordinated by Climate Alliance Germany, more than 50 organisations published the "Climate Protection Plan 2050 of German Civil Society" in November 2016 as a result of a broad participation process. [5] In it, they call for more ambitious climate protection targets and legal binding force. As a national response to the Paris Climate Agreement, the German government had previously published its Climate Protection Plan 2050, which was criticised by Climate Alliance Germany as insufficient.
Climate Alliance Germany then coordinated the "Climate Protection 2030 Action Programme of German Civil Society". More than sixty organisations from across the spectrum of civil society describe in the extensive demands paper the measures they see as necessary in all fields of climate policy in order for Germany to achieve its climate target of 2030. The central demands are an early exit from coal, the rapid implementation of changes in the transport and agricultural sectors, and an ambitious price for CO2. Both projects were funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment. [6]
Since November 2015, Climate Alliance Germany has hosted the Berlin Climate Talks on changing topics several times a year. The events take place in cooperation with its member organisations. The panel guests have already included several federal ministers, state secretaries and party leaders. The first event was dedicated to civil society proposals for a more climate-friendly air transport concept for Germany.
Climate Alliance Germany advocates an ambitious coal phase-out. The reduction of coal generation and coal mining is a key element in meeting German and international climate targets and achieving the necessary decarbonisation in terms of effective climate protection. For this reason, the Alliance demands that no new opencast mines be approved. Existing opencast mines in the Rhineland lignite mining area, in Lusatia and in Central Germany are not to be expanded but reduced in size.
The structural change in the lignite regions must be actively shaped politically and financially secured, for example through a structural change fund. In cooperation with local and regional groups, Climate Alliance Germany is also committed to the preservation of villages and landscapes threatened by opencast mining. In order to achieve these goals, the Alliance has made the legal, economic and social aspects of the commercial use of coal a priority issue. In political talks, demand papers, expert reports and studies, Climate Alliance Germany points out the dangers of coal-fired power generation for the climate, environment and health. In addition, it creates public attention through media reports, events, actions and demonstrations.
From 2008 to 2013, Climate Alliance Germany organized an anti-coal campaign to prevent new coal-fired power plants in Germany. The Alliance coordinated and supported civil society activities. As a result of the campaign in cooperation with citizens' initiatives, environmental associations and activists from various sectors of society, 17 climate-damaging coal-fired power plant projects were stopped during this period.
Following a Greenpeace protest against lignite mining in the Lausitz in September 2013, a petition of 112,157 signatures in support was handed to the Lausitz authorities. Daniela Setton, an energy policy speaker from the Alliance, commented that it was the most successful collection of signatures against a new German opencast mine ever. [7]
In July 2014 the Alliance co-authored and co-published a report on the top 30 most polluting coal-fired power plants in Europe and called for their decommissioning. [8]
In July 2016, the Alliance, together with BUND, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation released a report on the aftermath of lignite mining in Germany. [9] [10] [11] The report, co-authored by IASS Potsdam [ de ], argues that the financial resources needed to remedy the damage caused by lignite mining are not adequately backed up by the existing mining operators Vattenfall (who later sold its lignite-fired plants and mines to EPH), RWE, and MIBRAG [ de ].
The Climate Manifesto is a manifesto initiated by Climate Alliance Germany in 2016 describing a vision of the climate movement. The text calls on politicians and society to work for a world that is oriented towards the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the global goals for sustainable development. The member organisations of Climate Alliance Germany were involved in its creation.
The manifesto identifies climate change and the high consumption of natural resources as global and urgent challenges that can only be met through joint efforts. It emphasises that the problems of a globalised world with extreme injustice and inequality can only be solved through global cooperation and solidarity. The industrialised countries, which have built up their prosperity on the basis of fossil fuels and have thus significantly caused climate change, have a special responsibility in this respect.
The climate manifesto was presented in September 2016 at a festive event on the meadow in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin. Ahead of the Bundestag elections in the following year, leaders of the parties represented in the Bundestag were also invited.
In addition to activist activities, the Alliance mediates and maintains the substantive and tactical networks of its member organizations and with other civil society actors. In addition, Climate Alliance Germany offers its members opportunities for further development, for example through specific seminars.
From 2007 to 2015, Climate Alliance Germany organised nationwide demonstrations for the annual Global Climate Day of Action. The goal was to protest at the lack of environmental awareness in politics and the economy and to encourage climate protection measures.
Alliance spokesperson Katharina Reuter, in an interview with Deutschlandfunk in December 2011, criticized the exit by Canada from the Kyoto Protocol. [12]
The Alliance organized an Alternative Energy Summit annually from 2010 to 2015 where energy and climate policy issues were discussed.
In an April 2016 media report about the future of RWE, an Alliance expert stated that the power company had become completely unprofitable after failing to adapt to the German Energiewende. [13]
Fundamental political decisions are made in a plenum that meets at least twice a year. The secretariat is responsible for implementing the resolutions in coordination with a "speakers' council" made up of up to ten representatives from member organizations, who are elected in a plenary session. The "speakers' council" makes decisions between the plena and determines the annual plan. [14]
Climate Alliance Germany has been a non-profit, registered association since 2022. [15] Previously, from 2014 to 2021, its legal entity was the Forum Ecological-Social Market Economy. [16] The budget (2022: around 956,000 euros [17] ) is covered by income from project funds and membership fees. Since January 2023, Climate Alliance Germany receives institutional funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. Projects are currently (2023) funded the Mercator Foundation, the Allianz Foundation and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. About 15 per cent of the budget is achieved through membership fees, plus donations of a small amount. Past projects have also been funded by the European Climate Foundation, the Children's Investment Fund, the DBU, the Federal Project Management Jülich and other foundations. [18]
DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG was an international oil and gas company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. It was a subsidiary of L1 Energy. In 2018, DEA owned stakes in oil and gas licenses in various countries and operated natural gas underground storage facilities in Germany. DEA is a derivation from Deutsche Erdöl-Aktiengesellschaft, the original name of the company. On 1 May 2019, DEA merged with Wintershall to form Wintershall Dea.
Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational power company owned by the Swedish state. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the United States. The company is the world's second-largest offshore wind power generation and Europe's third-largest company in renewable energy. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, the RWE Group was ranked as the 297th-largest public company in the world.
Niederaussem Power Station is a lignite-fired power station in the Bergheim Niederaussem/Rhein Erft circle, owned by RWE. It consists of nine units, which were built between 1963 and 2003. It is the second-largest lignite coal power plant in operation in Germany, with total output capacity of 3,864 MW and a net capacity of 3,396 MW. The plant is estimated to have been one of the ten most carbon polluting coal-fired power plants in the world in 2018, at 27.2 million tons of carbon dioxide, and its emissions intensity is estimated to be 45.1% higher relative to the average for all fossil-fueled plants in Germany. According to the study Dirty Thirty, issued in 2007 by the WWF, Niederaussem Power Station is the second worst power station in Europe in terms of mercury emissions due to the use of lignite.
Energy in Germany is obtained for the vast majority from fossil sources, accounting for 77.6% of total energy consumption in 2023, followed by renewables at 19.6%, and 0.7% nuclear power. As of 2023, German primary energy consumption amounted to 10,791 Petajoule, making it the ninth largest global primary energy consumer. The total consumption has been steadily declining from its peak of 14,845 Petajoule in 2006. In 2023 Germany's gross electricity production reached 508.1 TWh, down from 569.2 TWh in 2022, and 631.4 TWh in 2013.
The Tagebau Hambach is a large open-pit coal mine in Niederzier and Elsdorf, North Rhine–Westphalia, Germany. It is operated by RWE and used for mining lignite.
The Tagebau Garzweiler is a surface mine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is operated by RWE and used for mining lignite. The mine currently has a size of 48 km2 (19 sq mi) and got its name from the village of Garzweiler which previously existed at this location. The community was moved to a section of Jüchen with the same name.
Coal phase-out is an environmental policy intended to stop using the combustion of coal in coal-burning power plants, and is part of fossil fuel phase-out. Coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, therefore phasing it out is critical to limiting climate change as laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that coal is responsible for over 30% of the global average temperature increase above pre-industrial levels. Some countries in the Powering Past Coal Alliance have already stopped.
Neurath Power Station is a lignite-fired power station at Neurath in Grevenbroich, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located to the south of Grevenbroich, and it borders the municipalities of Rommerskirchen and Bedburg. The power station consists of seven units and it is owned by RWE. It was named as the second biggest single polluter for carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union in 2019 by the EU's Transport and Environment Group, as well as the 102nd biggest polluting asset globally by Climate TRACE.
Mátra Power Plant, is a lignite fired power plant majority owned by MVM, the Hungarian state owned power company since 2019. It is located in the valley of the Mátra mountains, in Hungary. It has an installed electric power output of 950 MW, however, one 200 MW generator has been on permanent hiatus since January 2021. According to the latest government energy strategy, most of the existing lignite-fuelled units will be shut down in 2025, and a new 500 MW gas-fired unit will be added as well as up to 400 MW in solar power.
Coal in Europe describes the use of coal as an energy fuel in Europe. Coal includes hard coal, black coal, and brown coal.
The German Climate Action Plan 2050 is a climate protection policy document approved by the German government on 14 November 2016. The plan outlines measures by which Germany can meet its various national greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals through to 2050 and service its international commitments under the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), under minister Barbara Hendricks, led the development of the plan. The plan was progressively watered down since a draft was first leaked in early May 2016. Projections from the environment ministry in September 2016 indicate that Germany will likely miss its 2020 climate target.
Ende Gelände 2016 was a large civil disobedience protest movement in Germany to limit global warming through fossil fuel phase-out.
Hambach Forest is an ancient forest located near Buir in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, between Cologne and Aachen. It was planned to be cleared as part of the Hambach surface mine by owner RWE AG. There were protests and occupations from 2012 against this, and in 2020 a law was passed to preserve it.
Ende Gelände 2017 was a large civil disobedience protest movement in Germany to limit global warming through fossil fuel phase-out.
Ende Gelände (EG) is a civil disobedience movement occupying coal mines in Germany to raise awareness for climate justice. Ende Gelände has been organizing mass civil disobedience actions against coal mines in Rhineland, Lusatia and Leipzig since 2015. Since 2017, it has participated in civil disobedience protests against coal mining and fracking in Poland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. It supports Venice's movement against big cruising ships. Annual protests in Germany have been attended by between 3000 and 7000 participants. It regularly supports anti-racist rallies in Germany and has hosted a range of smaller local protests since 2018.
Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment is a commission created by the German federal government on 6 June 2018, after the governing coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) with the Social Democrats (SPD) in February 2018.
Ende Gelände 2019 was a series of large-scale events of a movement for climate justice in Germany.
The Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier, often called the Rhenish mining area, is a lignite mining area or district in the Cologne Bay, on the northwestern edge of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. The mining of lignite using the open pit method has had a significant impact on the landscape here and led to the formation of several important industrial sites. The area includes the Zülpicher and Jülicher Börde, the Erft lowlands and the Ville, making it the largest lignite mining area in Europe. To a lesser extent clay, silica sand and loess are mined here. The area is the only active lignite mining area in what was West Germany during German partition and contains the mines with the largest surface area, greatest depth, and biggest annual output of coal.
Lützerath was a hamlet in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, between Aachen and Düsseldorf. In 2013, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the expansion of the Garzweiler surface mine; in January 2023, Lützerath was eradicated to make way for the opencast mining of Garzweiler II ; it will eventually be replaced with a lake. A farmer contested the plans which were approved by the higher administrative court in Münster. Climate activists moved to the village, squatting on empty farms and occupying treehouses. In an attempt to save the village, a campaign called "Lützerath lebt" was started. In October 2022, the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia announced that RWE would phase out coal mining in the region by 2030, but Lützerath would still be demolished. The eviction occurred in January 2023.
| Authority control databases: National |
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