RWE AG 
"As of today, evacuation must be expected at any time", said a spokesperson for the Aachen police. The police had already started dismantling barricades the day before. They have gathered massive forces in the region.
The energy giant RWE wants to demolish the hamlet in order to be able to excavate the lignite under the village. Climate activists who are occupying the village are protesting against the plans. The black-green state government in North Rhine-Westphalia is behind the plans to clear the village, which has become a symbol in the dispute over the phase-out of fossil fuels and climate policy.
The background to the eviction is a plan presented last October by Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck, NRW Economics Minister Mona Neubaur and RWE CEO Markus Krebber, according to which the phase-out of climate-damaging coal energy in NRW is to take place as early as 2030 and therefore earlier than planned. In the short term, however, more coal is to be mined in view of the energy crisis resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Lützerath would therefore have to make way in order to meet demand.
According to RWE calculations, the earlier closure of the coal-fired power plants in the Rhenish mining area will reduce emissions of around 280 million tons of greenhouse gases. Lützerath would have to be used by RWE for lignite mining, NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Neubaur admitted - "even if I would have wished it differently." However, the plans are controversial among the Green base. A corresponding agreement on energy policy only received a narrow majority at a federal Green Party conference.
(Report by Matthias Inverardi; Edited by Hans Busemann; If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)).
