28 August 2023

RWE tears down operational wind turbines in grab for more coal

ERKELENZ, 28 AUGUST 2023 – As devastating wildfires continue to ravage Europe as a consequence of the climate emergency, German energy giant RWE has begun dismantling operational wind turbines near its sprawling Garzweiler open pit coal mine in North Rhine Westphalia with the intention of excavating a further 15 to 20 million tonnes of coal. 

The demolitions are part of a deal brokered with Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck and Economics Minister for North Rhine Westphalia, Mona Neubaur, that is supposed to see RWE wind down its coal operations by 2030 [1]. RWE is Europe’s second largest CO2 emitter from coal power stations [2], and has razed over 100 villages in the Rhineland region to make way for its coal operations. Germany’s government is still aiming to exit coal by 2030. 

The current climate emergency requires urgent and concerted efforts to accelerate the deployment of every single wind turbine, solar panel and heat pump that we can muster. Anything that diverts from this critical endeavour, especially the dismantling of renewable energy sources to extract more fossil fuels, must be unequivocally prohibited,” said Fabian Hübner, senior campaigner in Germany at Beyond Fossil Fuels. 

END

Contacts:

Julia Pazos, Communications Officer, Beyond Fossil Fuels
[email protected], +1 310 994 9692

Fabian Hübner, Senior Campaigner, Beyond Fossil Fuels (German, English)
[email protected], +49 178 633 7720

Notes:

  1. https://beyondfossilfuels.org/2022/10/04/rwe-concedes-2030-coal-exit-but-still-plans-to-destroy-villages-and-to-invest-in-fossil-fuel-projects/
  2. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/6813154/

About: 

Beyond Fossil Fuels is a collective civil society campaign committed to ensuring all of Europe’s electricity is generated from fossil-free, renewable energy by 2035. It expands and builds upon the Europe Beyond Coal campaign, and its goal of a coal-free Europe in power and heat by 2030 at the latest. www.beyondfossilfuels.org

Read also
BLOG
REPORT
BRIEFING
PRESS RELEASE
INFOGRAPHIC

15 April 2025

On Saturday 12 April 2025, Beyond Fossil Fuels (BFF) and partners held a civil society conference on the fossil-fuel business […]

BLOG
REPORT
BRIEFING
PRESS RELEASE
INFOGRAPHIC

14 April 2025

Beyond Fossil Fuels, together with BankTrack, Cittadini Sostenibili, Coal Action Network, Reclaim Finance, ShareAction, and Urgewald, wrote to BNP Paribas […]

BLOG
REPORT
BRIEFING
PRESS RELEASE
INFOGRAPHIC

09 April 2025

Banks and investors are urged to reconsider their support for some of the biggest European power utility companies, after analysis by Beyond Fossil Fuels and Reclaim Finance revealed that none of the ten companies were on track for net zero.(

BLOG
REPORT
BRIEFING
PRESS RELEASE
INFOGRAPHIC

04 April 2025

The world added the lowest amount of coal power in 20 years, as 44 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity came online in 2024, a strong signal for the continued decline of the most polluting fossil fuel, according to Global Energy Monitor’s definitive annual survey of the global coal fleet.