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ENVIRONMENT

‘Just the beginning’: Protesters occupy disputed German coal mine

Activists occupied Germany's newest power plant on Sunday to protest against a law passed last week to end coal electricity generation, but which environmental groups argue is insufficient.

Published: 3 February 2020 09:17 CET
'Just the beginning': Protesters occupy disputed German coal mine
Activists in Datteln, North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday. Photo: DPA

Police said more than 100 protesters entered the site of the Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The organizers, a protest group called Ende Gelände (Game Over), put the number at 150.

The group said in a statement that their activists were “blocking crucial infrastructure”.

“Their action of civil disobedience is a protest against the coal law of the German government,” they said.

READ ALSO: Activists stage protests in Germany as cabinet passes coal exit law

The protest ended in the late afternoon, organisers said, while the power station operator announced legal action against the demonstrators.

“Our protest today is just the beginning,” said Kathrin Henneberger, a spokeswoman for Ende Gelände.

On Wednesday, ministers signed off on a 202-page draft law — under the clunky German title of “Kohleverstromungsbeendigungsgesetz” — to exit from coal by 2038 at the latest, by which time all coal-fired power plants and coal mines in Germany should be inactive.

However, environmentalists say the law is too little, too late.

Plant shutdowns are due to start on December 31st this year with one mine to be closed at Garzweiler, just west of Cologne.
 
The government view is that it makes more sense to close down old and more polluting plants rather than scrap the opening of Datteln 4.
 
“The law is a disaster,” said Henneberger. “We cannot continue burning coal for 18 years.”
 
In a plan adopted last month, Germany set itself the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2030, although it is set to miss its 2020 climate targets.
 
Berlin has promised to set aside €4.35 billion to help coal plant operators offset shutdown costs and aid the coal phase-out.
 
 
Employees working in the sector will also receive assistance while €40 billion of aid has been earmarked for mining regions through to 2038.
 
November saw activists block coal mines in the Lausitz Basin in eastern Germany and Ende Geläde is planning further protests in August at lignite mines in the west of the country.
 
The anti-coal movement has been gaining support in Germany since a 2011 decision to scrap atomic energy led to an increased dependence on coal.

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ENVIRONMENT

Sweden’s SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

The Swedish steel giant SSAB has announced plans to build a new steel plant in Luleå for 52 billion kronor (€4.5 billion), with the new plant expected to produce 2.5 million tons of steel a year from 2028.

Published: 2 April 2024 13:44 CEST
Sweden's SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

“The transformation of Luleå is a major step on our journey to fossil-free steel production,” the company’s chief executive, Martin Lindqvist, said in a press release. “We will remove seven percent of Sweden’s carbon dioxide emissions, strengthen our competitiveness and secure jobs with the most cost-effective and sustainable sheet metal production in Europe.”

The new mini-mill, which is expected to start production at the end of 2028 and to hit full capacity in 2029, will include two electric arc furnaces, advanced secondary metallurgy, a direct strip rolling mill to produce SSABs specialty products, and a cold rolling complex to develop premium products for the transport industry.

It will be fed partly from hydrogen reduced iron ore produced at the HYBRIT joint venture in Gälliväre and partly with scrap steel. The company hopes to receive its environemntal permits by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: 

The announcement comes just one week after SSAB revealed that it was seeking $500m in funding from the US government to develop a second HYBRIT manufacturing facility, using green hydrogen instead of fossil fuels to produce direct reduced iron and steel.

The company said it also hoped to expand capacity at SSAB’s steel mill in Montpelier, Iowa. 

The two new investment announcements strengthen the company’s claim to be the global pioneer in fossil-free steel.

It produced the world’s first sponge iron made with hydrogen instead of coke at its Hybrit pilot plant in Luleå in 2021. Gälliväre was chosen that same year as the site for the world’s first industrial scale plant using the technology. 

In 2023, SSAB announced it would transform its steel mill in Oxelösund to fossil-free production.

The company’s Raahe mill in Finland, which currently has new most advanced equipment, will be the last of the company’s big plants to shift away from blast furnaces. 

The steel industry currently produces 7 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and shifting to hydrogen reduced steel and closing blast furnaces will reduce Sweden’s carbon emissions by 10 per cent and Finland’s by 7 per cent.

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