Press Release August 28, 2018
Hundreds block gas infrastructure in Groningen + Ende Gelände activists form part of the Dutch mass action of civil disobedience + European action against fossil fuels and for climate justice
Groningen, 28-08-2018. Together with 700 people, Ende Gelände activists have been blocking the access roads to the deposit for toxic gas condensate in Delfzijl near Groningen. With this action of civil disobedience, the Dutch alliance Code Rood (Red Alert) calls for the immediate phase-out of natural gas. People from all over Europa send a signal for global climate justice.
The largest European natural gas field is located in Groningen. The extraction is causing earthquakes several times a week – the local population is calling for adequate compensation for the resulting damages. The greenhouse gas methane, the main component of natural gas, is also heating up the climate crisis. Germany is importing natural gas from the Netherlands – in 2016, Dutch gas made up 30% of all natural gas imports.
“We need to stop gas extraction immediately. The costs are too high. We need to make fossil fuel companies take the responsibility for the damages that they have caused, both here in Groningen and worldwide. Already in January, we demonstrated with 15.000 people for the future of Groningen, and this time we move to mass civil disobedience. Everybody needs to understand that gas is not a transition fuel!”, says Marcel Drenth, a local from Groningen.
“Whether gas in Groningen or coal in Hambach forest: we are blocking with our bodies the destruction of our climate through dirty fossil fuels. We do not accept that companies like RWE, Shell or Exxon make profit at the expense of people and nature. Greenhouse gases do not stop at boarders – and neither do we”, says Karoline Drzewo, spokesperson of Ende Gelände.
The global climate justice movement is calling for the phase-out of all fossil energy sources. From 25 to 28 October 2018, the alliance Ende Gelände organizes their own action of civil disobedience, blocking the coal infrastructure of the open pit mine Hambach in the Rhineland Coalfield. The alliance demands an immediate German coal phase-out, and the protection of the Hambach Forest as an immediate measure of climate justice.
Contact
Karolina Drzewo, Spokesperson Ende Gelände: +49 152 04560800
Contact to Code Rood:
Renske Vermeer:+31 6 475 94 636