At their party conference, the Greens are fiercely discussing the climate policy of the federal government to which they belong. The criticism from Fridays for Future activist Neubauer is sharp, especially on the agreement with the RWE group. She demands from the party to stop the excavation of Lützerath.
In a speech at the Bonn party conference, climate activist Luisa Neubauer called on the Greens to correct the coal compromise with the energy company RWE. As long as "fossil companies make the rules for the energy transition, there will be no energy transition," she said. If RWE uses the capacity utilization of all power plants, "not a single ton of CO2 will be saved" as a result of the coal phase-out brought forward to 2030, according to Neubauer.
"Since when do the Greens argue with fake figures from RWE," asked the climate protection activist, adding: "As long as the coal companies make the rules, there will be no climate justice." The removal of the town of Lützerath provided for in the agreement with RWE is a "real breach of the Paris climate agreement," said Neubauer.
At the beginning of October, RWE agreed with the Greens-led federal ministries of economics and North Rhine-Westphalia to end lignite-fired power generation by 2030 instead of 2038. In order to ensure the energy supply in the short term, two RWE power plants, which should have been shut down at the end of the year, are to remain connected to the grid until the end of March 2024. According to the agreement, the coal under the Lützerath settlement in the run-up to the Garzweiler opencast mine is also required for this.
On the other hand, Neubauer called for a moratorium on Lützerath. "The big picture is manifested in Lützerath," said the climate activist from Fridays for Future. The Green Party Congress must "be the corrective" and change the decision. It is up to the Greens in the traffic light coalition "to draw and defend the ecological boundaries," she warned.
Neubauer also called on the Greens to do more for climate protection within the federal government. "You are governing under the harshest conditions imaginable," she admitted. However, the Greens made too many unacceptable compromises and ignored the reality of the climate catastrophe. "Unprecedented storms and droughts, that's the reality." Neubauer is a member of the Greens himself.
The activist acknowledged that the phase-out of natural gas, oil and coal energy has had to be different since Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. But she does not understand that new infrastructure for the use of fossil fuels is now to be created, which is not needed in the long term, and that contracts are being signed that contradict the Paris climate agreement. "There, climate-friendly decisions are defended so plausibly - if you are quiet, you can hear an ecosystem crying somewhere."
Neubauer rejected the rejection of climate policy demands as unrealistic. "If there's anything unrealistic here, it's that we live in some form of stable democracy, economy or European peace order when the basis of life is blowing up at 2, 3, 4 degrees," she said, referring to the increasing warming of the world temperatures on earth. "Dear Greens, no matter how harsh our criticism is and how loud our protest, we will not release you from responsibility," said Neubauer. "We're counting on you."
At the party conference in the afternoon, a motion by the Federal Executive Committee on climate policy was up for vote. The Green Youth submitted an amendment calling for a "moratorium on evictions" for Lützerath. "In the short term, no facts of destruction should be created around Lützerath," the text says.
