{"id":60373,"date":"2023-06-22T08:22:57","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T06:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=60373"},"modified":"2023-06-22T08:41:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T06:41:38","slug":"breaking-greenpeace-activists-climb-coal-excavator-to-protest-against-czech-mine-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/60373\/breaking-greenpeace-activists-climb-coal-excavator-to-protest-against-czech-mine-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Greenpeace activists climb coal excavator to protest against Czech mine extension"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bilina, Czechia – <\/strong>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. <\/p>\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). Activists intend to occupy the excavator for at least 24 hours, 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 the B\u00edlina mine extension permit in March this year. But Greenpeace Czechia appealed against it, meaning the approval is currently not legally binding. <\/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 will mean an extra 50 million tonnes of coal will be extracted from B\u00edlina, which, according to the Czech Ministry of the Environment’s assessment, will cause the release of an estimated 11.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year on average.[1][2] That means, in just five years, B\u00edlina will produce roughly half of the yearly CO2 emission that Czechia produced in 2020 alone.[3][4]<\/p>\n\n

Worryingly, the extension permit has no binding time limit, meaning coal mining could actually continue at this location for many years beyond 2035. What\u2019s more, the Czech government pledged to phase out coal by 2033 at the latest, so the extension conflicts with this promise.[5] <\/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 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 mining extension, so coal comes to a complete stop in B\u00edlina by 2030 at the latest.<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/p>\n\n

Photo and video of the action is available in the Greenpeace Media Library<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Notes<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n

[1] CEZ gets extension at Bilina lignite mine until 2035<\/a> (English)<\/p>\n\n

[2] Czech Ministry of the Environment Assessment<\/a> (PDF, Czech) <\/p>\n\n

[3] Greenhouse gas emissions in Czechia by sector<\/a> (English)<\/p>\n\n

[4] Greenhouse gas emissions in Czechia by sector<\/a> (Czech)<\/p>\n\n

[5] Czech Republic to end coal use by 2033, boost nuclear power<\/a> (English)<\/p>\n\n

Contacts <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

For interviews in English, contact: <\/strong>Jasmine Watkiss, International Media Coordinator at Greenpeace UK, +44 7796 947448, jasmine.watkiss@greenpeace.org<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

For interviews in Czech, contact: <\/strong>Lukas Hrabek, Press Officer at Greenpeace Czechia, + 420 603 443 140, lukas.hrabek@greenpeace.org<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace International Press Desk: pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org<\/a>, +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24\/7). For international press releases follow us on Twitter @greenpeacepress<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greenpeace 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":60401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"BREAKING: Greenpeace activists climb coal excavator to protest against Czech mine extension","p4_og_description":"Greenpeace 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.","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[89,88],"p4-page-type":[98],"class_list":["post-60373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-climate","tag-coal","p4-page-type-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60373"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60399,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60373\/revisions\/60399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60373"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=60373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}