Press
You are welcome to report about our action, in the days before or right from site of action. We are happy to give interviews. It’s also possible to accompany activists into the action.
Press contact: press[at]decoalonize-europe.net
Press releases
5.6 Blast from the past – coal from Europe
In a number of European countries, hard coal extraction continues, at huge costs for local communities and ecosystems. Romania Romania is home to one hard coal mining area and two lignite regions. In 2018, 22.1 percent of electricity was generated by burning coal....
6 Shipping injustice – how the coal travels
Once it leaves the mine – on conveyor belts or trucks – the coal is usually transported to the nearest harbour. Many mines have their own railway lines, or even ports and shipping terminals, not only for exporting coal, but also to transport supplies and machinery to...
7.1 Destination Europe
In most European countries, electricity demand has been stagnating or even declining for decades. Renewables and gas are supplying ever greater proportions of what is consumed, and higher CO2 trading prices (a tax on production of CO2) in Europe have dis-incentivised...
7.2 Dirty ten: Europe’s filthiest power stations
The largest and dirtiest hard coal power station in Europe (in terms of CO2 emissions) is Kozienice, located ten kilometres from the small town with the same name in central Poland. It is run by the Polish company Enea. It ranks third in sulphur dioxide emissions (see...
7.3 Europe’s climate criminals
In addition to CO2 emissions which are used to rank Europe’s dirtiest power stations, coal combustion causes other types of air pollution, such as nitrous oxides and sulphur dioxides. Just four companies – Enea, RWE, PGE, and ENEL – were responsible for 46 percent of...
7.4 The iron grip of coal – hard coal and the steel industry
The role of coal-fired power stations in causing climate change is well-documented and widely understood. What is less well known is that coal is also used in steelworks, releasing large amounts of emissions into the atmosphere and relying on destructive mining...
7.5 Too little, too late – phasing out coal in Europe
Fifteen European governments have developed coal phase-out plans, with Austria, Belgium, and Sweden now coal power free. While phaseouts are welcomed, almost all of them are too slow to avoid catastrophic climate change, and too often part of energy transitions that...
7.6 Datteln 4 – a symbol for Germany’s misguided climate policy
On 30 May 2020, a new hard coal power plant, Datteln 4, was commissioned on the periphery of the West-German Ruhr area, a traditional coal mining area. Located on the Datteln-Ems canal, next to the old coal power station units Datteln 1-3, the power plant is less than...
7.7 Coaland – the Polish coal industry
By Alina Pogoda from the Polish Green Network In Poland, hard coal is exploited in 21 mines, mostly in the Silesia region. In 1990, 388,000 people were employed in the hard coal sector. By 2020, this number had declined to 83,000. The Polish mines have been struggling...
7.8 Engineering the climate crisis – Siemens’ stake in hard coal
Far more companies than just mine operators and energy companies render extracting and burning of hard coal possible and cost-efficient. If we look at European companies involved in this dirty business, it is not only investors, banks, and insurance companies that...