Fridays for Future outraged by oil drilling plans and the Greens
Created: 05/12/2022Updated: 05/12/2022, 10:00 am
The "Mittelplate" drilling and production island in the North Sea off the coast of Büsum.
© Christian Charisius/dpa/archive image
The climate protection movement Fridays for Future is outraged by considerations about oil drilling in the German Wadden Sea.
The worst consequences of the climate crisis can only be prevented by a "radical change of course", said spokeswoman Pauline Brünger of the German Press Agency.
"However, the federal government's response to the war threatens to further fuel the climate crisis."
Berlin - Brünger referred to a report published on Tuesday by the World Weather Organization (WMO), according to which the annual average temperature in the world could be more than 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial level by 2026 - even if the value is lower again in the following years could.
Climate experts warn that the consequences of climate change will be significant if the temperature rises consistently above 1.5 degrees.
Meanwhile, the Greens backed new gas terminals and oil drilling in the Wadden Sea, Brünger complained.
"The party is in the process of aligning its policy no longer with science, but with the wishes and preferences of a few industrial bosses such as BASF and its subsidiary Wintershall."
In view of efforts to reduce dependence on Russian gas and oil, Schleswig-Holstein is also considering expanding oil production in the Wadden Sea.
The CDU and FDP in the country recently spoke out in favor of the project.
Even the Greens' top candidate for the state elections, Finance Minister Monika Heinold, had declared that "the search for alternative sources also includes Mittelplate".
However, she linked her consent to an increase in production volumes to the condition that Wintershall Dea linked the application to an earlier exit date for the platform as a whole.
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Brünger said it was astonishing how naturally Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) took over the interests of fossil fuel companies.
“Selling new fossil investments as part of the solution is the opposite of sustainable crisis policy - it is a crisis accelerator.
Are you serious, Mr. Habeck?” Habeck is pushing ahead with the construction of terminals for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to replace gas supplies from Russia.
These will later be used to import climate-friendly hydrogen.
dpa