How much mining can our earth endure – and what responsibility do we bear in this regard? We would like to invite to a two-day conference in Altenberg on September 4–6, 2026. The focus will be on the planned lithium mining in the area – as well as global developments surrounding this coveted raw material. This is where ecological concerns, economic interests, and questions of global justice collide.

The environmental network GRÜNE LIGA is today publishing a background paper on the planned “Net Zero Valley Lusatia”, which summarizes the main points of criticism of the proposed designation of the whole of Lausitz region in Germany as a so-called “acceleration valley”.

„In the name of climate protection, trees and participation rights are to be cut down, in some cases for fossil fuel projects. This is not what the EU wants to promote with the Net Zero Industry Act,” says René Schuster from the Cottbus environmental group.

Planned Mining Violates the Constitutional Climate Protection Law

Bautzen/Rohne, December 2, 2024. Today, a lawsuit was filed with the Higher Administrative Court of Bautzen against the expropriation of a privately-owned forest for the Nochten lignite mine. In the coming months, the court will have to decide whether the forest area may be destroyed as planned by the coal company LEAG on January 1, 2026.

“Expropriation is only permissible for fully lawful projects. The court will need to determine whether the numerous damages caused by the Nochten mine are genuinely necessary for the public good. There are significant doubts about this on several legal grounds. For instance, burning the planned coal amount is incompatible with the constitutional mandate for climate protection,” said attorney Dr. Philipp Schulte, who represents the landowners in court.

Environmental Group will remain there with several events

The UMWELTFESTIVAL focused on the fair distribution of public space and concrete measures for a transport turnaround, such as the reform of road traffic law. The motto "Next Exit: Fair Transport Turnaround!" was filled with life and experts such as Rebecca Peters, Chair of the ADFC Federal Association and Andreas Knie, transport researcher from the Science Centre Berlin, explained how the transport turnaround can become possible.

Rebecca Peters stands for a generational change in the ADFC and would like to see this also in transport policy and that the bicycle is finally used as the key to the transport turnaround. Andreas Knie, on the other hand, called on employers, represented by GASAG board member Matthias Trunk, to give their employees a bicycle or a public transport ticket. In addition to the experts on the stage at the Brandenburger Tor, numerous exhibitors in the mobility cluster presented good examples that show how mobility beyond motorised individual transport is possible.

During these weeks, the German government is presumably negotiating behind the scenes with the coal company LEAG about the timetable for the coal phase-out. The timetable threatens to be so slow that it will make it impossible to reach the 1.5 degree target!
We will put pressure on them and see you on 25 June at the LEAG open-cast mine Welzow-Süd! The GRÜNE LIGA Federal Contact Point Lignite supports the demonstration announced by Fridays for Future. On 7 May there was already a successful joint demonstration at the Nochten open-cast mine. Review here