{"id":19054,"date":"2023-06-22T14:07:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T13:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/?p=19054"},"modified":"2023-06-22T14:07:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T13:07:53","slug":"greenpeace-activists-climb-coal-excavator-to-protest-against-czech-mine-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/tiskova-zprava\/19054\/greenpeace-activists-climb-coal-excavator-to-protest-against-czech-mine-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace activists climb coal excavator to protest against Czech mine extension"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greenpeace activists from across Europe occupied equipment at a Czech coal mine today to peacefully protest against plans to extend the life of the mine until at least 2035.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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\u00a9 Petr Kucka<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Early this morning, seven activists from Czechia, Poland and Germany scaled the almost 60-metre high excavator – the biggest in Czechia – at the mine in B\u00edlina, with banners reading \u2018End Fossil Crimes\u2019 in English and \u2018End Mining 2030\u2019 in Czech (\u2018Konec t\u011b\u017eby 2030\u2019). The activists are occupying the excavator ahead of \u010cEZ\u2019s AGM on Monday 26 June. <\/p>\n\n

Tade\u00e1\u0161 Simon, Greenpeace Czechia activist who is taking part in the occupation, said:<\/strong> \u201cWe are here calling on \u010cEZ to abandon its intention to prolong coal mining at B\u00edlina, and demanding that the Czech government reverses this decision. Czechia deserves a just and sustainable energy transition to preserve our futures for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The action was organised by Greenpeace Czechia after fossil fuel corporation \u010cEZ applied to extend the life of the coal mine until at least 2035 – creating a minimum of five extra years of climate-destroying emissions. Despite the undeniable climate science proving fossil fuel extraction should end, the Czech government\u2019s District Mining Office approved<\/a> the B\u00edlina mine extension permit in March this year. But Greenpeace Czechia appealed against it, meaning the approval is currently not legally binding.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Lisa G\u00f6ldner, Lead Campaigner for Greenpeace\u2019s Fossil Free Revolution campaign, said: <\/strong>\u201cGreenpeace wants to put a bright spotlight on the imminent climate destruction at B\u00edlina. \u010cEZ’s intention to prolong the life of this mine will create climate shockwaves across Europe and the wider world if it is not stopped. In this unprecedented climate crisis, it is nothing but a fossil crime to prolong the life of a dirty, polluting coal mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

B\u00edlina produces lignite coal, one of the most carbon-intensive of all fossil fuels and a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions. The mine supplies the nearby Ledvice Power Station, as well as several local heating plants. <\/p>\n\n

If \u010cEZ\u2019s application is approved, it could mean at least an extra 41.5 million tonnes of coal will be extracted from B\u00edlina, which, according to the Czech Ministry of the Environment’s assessment<\/a>, will cause the release of an estimated 11.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year on average.<\/p>\n\n

Worryingly, the extension permit has no binding time limit, meaning coal mining could reportedly continue at this location beyond 2035<\/a>. The extension until 2035 also conflicts with the Czech government\u2019s pledge to phase out coal by 2033 at the latest<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The Czech government has the power to stop the mine from being enlarged by cancelling the mine\u2019s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) permit, or by issuing an official statement against the prolongation of the mining which would be legally binding for the mining authority. <\/p>\n\n

To stand a chance of limiting global heating to 1.5\u00b0C and stop the climate crisis from escalating further, Greenpeace is calling on the Czech environment minister Petr Hlad\u00edk to scrap the positive Environmental Impact Assessment granted for the mining extension, so coal comes to a complete stop in B\u00edlina by 2030 at the latest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greenpeace activists from across Europe occupied equipment at a Czech coal mine today to peacefully protest against plans to extend the life of the mine until at least 2035.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":19055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[29,25,20],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-19054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energeticka-revoluce","tag-nenasilne-protesty","tag-konec-doby-fosilni","tag-zmena-klimatu","p4-page-type-tiskova-zprava"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19056,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19054\/revisions\/19056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19054"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/czech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=19054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}