Hambach Forest: RWE head and environmental NGOs meet

German energy company RWE and environmental organisations have met to discuss the situation in the embattled Hambach Forest that energy company RWE wants to cut down to make room for a nearby coal mine, reports Spiegel Online. RWE head Rolf Martin Schmitz met with representatives from Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), Greenpeace and Deutscher Naturschutzring to ensure that protests in the forest do not turn violent, Spiegel Online has learned.
In a separate press statement, Greenpeace said the meeting with RWE ended without an agreement. "For us, the meeting was about emphasising to the company RWE its societal responsibility, and the possibilities for a positive solution. Currently, this is blocked by the uncompromising stance of the company," said Greenpeace managing director and member of the coal commission Martin Kaiser.
Several members of Germany’s coal exit commission have said that the mine expansion should be put on hold until the commission has finished its negotiations over the management of the country’s coal exit. The commission’s leaders, however, maintain that dealing with the situation at the Hambach Forest is not part of the body’s mandate.

Find the article in German here.

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