Greenpeace desires to buy certainly one of Europe’s greatest Coal Mines–And Shut It Down

The environmental staff Greenpeace is known for direct movements that disrupt fossil fuel actions—it has confronted big ships on kayaks, scaled offshore drill rigs, and climbed up smokestacks in its quest.

however in Europe, Greenpeace wants to take an awfully different form of direct motion: shopping for one of the vital continent’s greatest coal mines and step by step shutting it down. If a hit, Greenpeace would if truth be told be within the strange place of running coal amenities except as long as 2030, the time limit it will set for shutting down operations and phasing in renewable sources of power.

The atypical scenario is as a result the decision of Vattenfall—a Swedish government-owned vitality conglomerate—to promote its lignite coal mining operations and two coal power plants in Germany. in keeping with Sweden’s personal intention to develop into the sector’s first fossil fuel-free nation, Vattenfall is pushing to turn out to be its power portfolio to lower CO2-emitting sources and elevate renewables. In September, it invited statements of passion from potential bidders.

however in Greenpeace Nordic’s view, Vattenfall selling off a coal mine to a bidder with the intention to preserve milking its resources isn’t any better than rearranging the deck chairs on the big. local weather scientists say 80% of present coal reserves need to remain in the ground with the intention to restrict international warming to the internationally known safe threshold of 2 degrees Celsius. With the worldwide coal market plummeting, the sale is a a very powerful take a look at case for coal’s future in Europe, with two local weather coverage-top nations—Germany and Sweden—involved.

“When coal is declining anyway, what do you do? Do you attempt to store as much as that you may? Or do you truly aggressively put money into what you wish to have as a substitute?” asks Greenpeace Nordic software director Martina Krüger. “This area can become from an issue to the shining mild of the future, and we want to be part of that.”

There’s a long road in advance for Greenpeace to convince Vattenfall of that view. Late on Friday final week, the group obtained a flat-out rejection of its statement of interest from Citigroup, which is managing the sale. Citigroup said that Greenpeace won’t be allowed to bid and that it owed no further explanation, in keeping with Krüger. Neither Citigroup nor Vattenfall would comment to AFP.

“The Swedish govt promised that no new mines could be opened, which is step one to the gradual section-out of coal. we’re fearing that with the sale, they’re now seeking to get away from that promise—except they have very clear environmental and social standards connected,” she says. “We’ve viewed that, in this first letter, that they are only interested in the perfect bid.”

If Citigroup does not budge, Greenpeace shall be challenging its resolution straight away to the Swedish government. One giant sticking point is what the belongings are value. Some analysts have put the worth at 2 to three billion Euros. while that value is much much less than it was once just a yr ago, Greenpeace says it will have to still be some distance much less—closer to 0.5 billion Euros, taking into account the declining price of coal and future environmental laws, according to Krüger.

What’s extra, a gradual transition to renewables that preserves the lots of jobs that at the moment are concerned within the coal sector will require a big investment. If that’s considered, Greenpeace contends, the operations can be a liability, now not an asset. Krüger says Greenpeace has “undoubtedly” it might finance its bid from donations, crowdfunding, can provide, and other sources. Its plan is to create a separate foundation that may run Vattenfall’s shut-down and increase plans to transition to a brand new renewable economy.

Greenpeace says its bid is critical, and it hopes to win. however even though it does not, it wants to pressure Vattenfall to put sturdy environmental and social stipulations to the sale.

For a bunch averse to working throughout the gadget, Greenpeace Nordic’s technique took a variety of discussion. Says Krüger: “we all know that we’re options-oriented, however that’s not people’s perceptions of us. We want to be telling individuals about our goals, no longer almost about our nightmares.”