“We’ve looked the other way too long”

Western Germany’s coal mining regions have long profited from mining companies’ cash flow into local communities but in exchange have tacitly agreed not to talk about immediate effects on the environment, disappearing villages, and emissions, Burkhard Giesen writes in a op-ed for Aachener Nachrichten. “Let others deal with it” has been the consensus, and that is what they are now doing, as protestors flock to the Rhineland from across Europe to demonstrate against the coal industry, Giesen writes. “The energy transition starts on our own doorstep and climate change is no dream of the future but already dictates everyday life in many countries,” he says, adding that “lignite is not going to be a part of that future.” 

See the commentary in German here (behind paywall).

See the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal? for more information.