Erkelenz (dpa / lnw) - After the demolition of the Lützerath settlement was decided, environmentalists announced resistance on the spot. If the large coal deposits located under Lützerath are mined and burned, it would be a major setback for climate protection, said the spokesman for the organization "All Villages Remain!", Christopher Laumanns on Monday.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck and NRW Minister of Economics Mona Neubaur (both Green) and RWE boss Markus Krebber had previously presented an agreement which, among other things, provides for the excavation of Lützerath in the Rhenish Revier (NRW).
In order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial age, this must not happen under any circumstances, said Laumanns. As in the Hambach Forest, resistance will be provided in the interest of climate protection - "also with our bodies".
Referring to the Greens Neubaur and Habeck (both Greens), who are behind the agreement with RWE, Laumanns said: "The Greens are saying goodbye to the climate movement: they want to accept that our region is being devastated and the climate is being destroyed."
The agreement was "not a success at all, but the continuation of the coal policy of the previous black and yellow government in North Rhine-Westphalia". Laumanns expects that many people will come to Lützerath to prevent digging. "We will protect the village with the entire climate justice movement, it will be similar to the Hambach Forest".
The agreement also states that several villages and farms on the edge of the open pit will remain and not be demolished. "That was clear beforehand, so it's not a climate protection success," says Laumanns. The coal seams under the said villages were thin and RWE's economic interest in them was limited. It's different in Lützerath, where the coal seam is very large. "Therefore, it is immensely important that the CO2 stays underground there."
The Hambach Forest is a piece of forest that, like Lützerath, is located directly next to the opencast mine to the west of Cologne. Environmentalists and other activists have long resisted on the ground, some living in tree houses. The originally planned deforestation did not take place.
