Climate-Alliance Germany

Climate-Alliance Germany
Klima-Allianz Deutschland
Formation 24 April 2007 (2007-04-24)
Type Advocacy group
Location
  • Schwedenstraße 15a, D–13357 Berlin, Germany
Website www.climate-alliance-germany.de

Climate-Alliance Germany (German: Klima-Allianz Deutschland) is a network of 110 civil society organizations, including environment groups, development groups, trade unions, and consumer associations.[1][2] Founded in 2007, the aim of the Alliance is to provide a common front to apply pressure to German decision-makers to adopt climate protection measures.[3] Prominent members include WWF, BUND (or Friends of the Earth Germany), and IG BAU (a multi-sector trade union).

A key issue for the Alliance is the prevention of new coal-fired power plants (the Anti-Coal Campaign).[4] The Alliance wants the German government to phase-out coal (Kohleausstieg) and promote renewable energy.

Activities

Alternative Energy Summit

The Alliance organizes an Alternative Energy Summit annually to discuss energy and climate policy issues.

In a April 2016 media report over the future of RWE, an Alliance expert stated that the power company had become completely unprofitable after failing to adapt to the German Energiewende.[5]

Berlin Climate Talks

Since November 2015, the Alliance has organized the Berlin Climate Talks. The format is now four per year, each with a different theme. The launch event was devoted to civil society proposals for a more climate-friendly aviation concept for Germany.

Anti-Coal Campaign

Started in 2008, the most important campaign for the Alliance is the Anti-Coal Campaign. The campaign coordinates and supports civil society activities to prevent new coal power plants from being built in Germany. Coal is more carbon intensive than other fossil fuels, so that even the most advanced lignite-fired power plant discharges twice as much CO2 as a gas-fired power plant. Coal power plants have a lifetime of 40–50 years and create high CO2 emissions throughout their lives. Without a coal phase-out, the Alliance questions whether the German government can meet its future CO2 emissions targets.

Following a Greenpeace protest against lignite mining in the Lausitz in September 2013, a petition of 112,157 signatures in support was handed to the Lausitz authorities. Daniela Setton, an energy policy speaker from the Alliance, commented that it was the most successful collection of signatures against a new German opencast mine ever.[6]

In July 2014 the Alliance co-authored and co-published a report on the top 30 most polluting coal-fired power plants in Europe and called for their decommissioning.[7]

In July 2016, the Alliance, together with BUND, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation released a report on the aftermath of lignite mining in Germany.[8][9][10] The report, co-authored by IASS Potsdam, argues that the financial resources needed to remedy the damage caused by lignite mining are not adequately backed up by the existing mining operators Vattenfall (who later sold its lignite-fired plants and mines to EPH), RWE, and MIBRAG.

Global Climate Day of Action

For the annual Global Climate Day of Action, the Alliance organizes nationwide demonstrations for the general public, to protest at the lack of environmental awareness in politics and the economy and to encourage climate protection measures.

Alliance spokesperson Katharina Reuter, in an interview with Deutschlandfunk in December 2011, criticized the exit by Canada from the Kyoto Protocol.[11]

Networking and training

In addition to activist activities, the Alliance mediates and maintains the substantive and tactical networks of its member organizations and with other civil society actors. In addition, the Alliance offers its members opportunities for further development, for example through specific seminars.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.climate-alliance-germany.de/about-us/members/
  2. ↑ "Climate-Alliance Germany". Clean Energy Wire (CLEW). Berlin, Germany. 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  3. ↑ ""Klima-Allianz" gegründet: Kirchen, Umweltverbände und Entwicklungsorganisationen rufen Bundesregierung zum Handeln auf" ["Climate-Alliance" founded: churches, environmental groups, and development organizations call on government to act]. WWF Germany (in German). Berlin, Germany. 24 April 2007. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  4. ↑ Europe's dirty 30: how the EU's coal-fired power plants are undermining its climate efforts (PDF). Brussels, Belgium: CAN Europe, WWF European Policy Office, HEAL, the EEB, and Climate Alliance Germany. July 2014. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  5. ↑ Münten, Thomas; Rahms, Heiko; Seibert, Andreas (12 April 2016). "RWE in der Krise" [RWE in crisis] (in German). Mainz, Germany: ZDF frontal21. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  6. ↑ "Gegner legten Braunkohlezufuhr lahm" [Protesters paralyzed lignite supply] (in German). Germany: Deutschlandradio. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  7. ↑ Gutmann, Kathrin; Huscher, Julia; Urbaniak, Darek; White, Adam; Schaible, Christian; Bricke, Mona (July 2014). Europe's dirty 30: how the EU's coal-fired power plants are undermining its climate efforts (PDF). Brussels, Belgium: CAN Europe, WWF European Policy Office, HEAL, the EEB, and Climate-Alliance Germany. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  8. ↑ "Braunkohle-Tagebau: Studie mahnt, Gelder für Renaturierung und Bewältigung der Langzeitschäden zu sichern" [Lignite opencast mining: study urges funds be secured for restoration and for addressing the long-term damage] (in German). Potsdam, Germany: IASS Potsdam (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies). 7 July 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  9. ↑ Holdinghausen, Heike (8 July 2016). "Der Atomausstieg als Vorbild" [The nuclear phase out as a role model]. Die Tageszeitung (taz) (in German). Berlin, Germany. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  10. ↑ Wronski, Rupert; Fiedler, Swantje; Schäuble, Dominik (June 2016). Finanzielle Vorsorge im Braunkohlebereich: Optionen zur Sicherung der Braunkohlerückstellungen und zur Umsetzung des Verursacherprinzips [Financial provisions in the area of lignite: options for securing the lignite reserves and the implementation of the polluter pays principle] (PDF). Berlin and Potsdam, Germany: Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft (FÖS) and IASS Potsdam (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies). Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  11. ↑ Geers, Theo (13 December 2011). "Der Ausstieg ist "auf jeden Fall alarmierend" — Gespräch" [The exit is "definitely alarming" — Interview with Katharina Reuter]. Germany: Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
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