Planned Mining Violates the Constitutional Climate Protection Law

Bautzen/Rohne, December 2, 2024. Today, a lawsuit was filed with the Higher Administrative Court of Bautzen against the expropriation of a privately-owned forest for the Nochten lignite mine. In the coming months, the court will have to decide whether the forest area may be destroyed as planned by the coal company LEAG on January 1, 2026.

“Expropriation is only permissible for fully lawful projects. The court will need to determine whether the numerous damages caused by the Nochten mine are genuinely necessary for the public good. There are significant doubts about this on several legal grounds. For instance, burning the planned coal amount is incompatible with the constitutional mandate for climate protection,” said attorney Dr. Philipp Schulte, who represents the landowners in court.

Environmental Group will remain there with several events

The UMWELTFESTIVAL focused on the fair distribution of public space and concrete measures for a transport turnaround, such as the reform of road traffic law. The motto "Next Exit: Fair Transport Turnaround!" was filled with life and experts such as Rebecca Peters, Chair of the ADFC Federal Association and Andreas Knie, transport researcher from the Science Centre Berlin, explained how the transport turnaround can become possible.

Rebecca Peters stands for a generational change in the ADFC and would like to see this also in transport policy and that the bicycle is finally used as the key to the transport turnaround. Andreas Knie, on the other hand, called on employers, represented by GASAG board member Matthias Trunk, to give their employees a bicycle or a public transport ticket. In addition to the experts on the stage at the Brandenburger Tor, numerous exhibitors in the mobility cluster presented good examples that show how mobility beyond motorised individual transport is possible.

During these weeks, the German government is presumably negotiating behind the scenes with the coal company LEAG about the timetable for the coal phase-out. The timetable threatens to be so slow that it will make it impossible to reach the 1.5 degree target!
We will put pressure on them and see you on 25 June at the LEAG open-cast mine Welzow-Süd! The GRÜNE LIGA Federal Contact Point Lignite supports the demonstration announced by Fridays for Future. On 7 May there was already a successful joint demonstration at the Nochten open-cast mine. Review here

This Sunday, from 11 am to 7 pm, the Brandenburger Tor will once again be dedicated to environmental, nature and climate protection at the 28th Environmental Festival of the GRÜNE LIGA Berlin. More than 200 exhibitors will be offering information and advice, hands-on activities and examples of changes in everyday life on Germany's largest ecological experience mile. The diversity ranges from environmental, nature and consumer protection, energy and transport change, to animal welfare, fair trade and ecological street food. Under the motto "Next Exit: Fair Transport Change", the reform of road traffic law, the fair distribution of public space and concrete measures for transport change will be the focus of the festival programme. All info at https://www.umweltfestival.de/

Over the next two years, the GREEN LIGA is tackling the controversial issue of single-family homes with the project "Using Living Space". The aim is to support people who want to make better use of their existing buildings. To kick things off, we want to get in touch with the interested members of the Liga network about this.