Europe is Still Burning....

Damning new report reveals the indigenous communities torn up by coal imports that continue to power Europe and its steel industry

Today, Tuesday 30^th March, Still Burning - a network against hard coal and neocolonialism – releases a new report Still Burning. The report shines a spotlight on Europe's continued coal imports in the run-up to COP26. It also tells the harrowing but little-known stories of the communities from Russia, Colombia, the USA, and Australia whose homes and way of life are literally torn up to mine the coal beneath them, suffering widespread human rights abuses.

Coal production around Europe is falling, but in Russia it’s rising to compensate and to extend the market eastwards.

Some European governments have announced coal power phase-outs, but some like in Germany are so far away (2038) as to be almost meaningless. Even in countries where coal for electricity has been phased out - such as Austria - are consuming coal to make steel. In fact in Austria coal-fired blast furnaces, are the single biggest site emitters of CO2 in the country.

There is an urgent need to stop all coal extraction and decarbonise the electricity and steel making industries.

You can download the report from https://stillburning.net/book/

Still Burning concludes that European utilities and governments must bear more responsibility for the disaster that is unfolding in coal producing regions, and so must act to halt and reverse the damage as well as compensate those impacted.

Our high energy lifestyles are fuelled by coal mines abroad forced on people unfortunate enough to live close to large coal deposits. These people rarely see any of the financial wealth raised from the exports to Europe of coal from under their homes. Instead, they are left with all the local harms and often the worst impacts of climate change.

Continues below...

Russia is the biggest exporter of coal to Europe supplying 41% of the coal imported into the European Union in 2017. 76% of Russia’s coal is mined in Kuzbass – an area in southwest Siberia and most of the coal produced there is shipped to Europe and Asia.

Valentina Bekrinova, a native Shor person living in the village of Chuvashka, Kuzbass, Siberia says, “In front of the house is the Sibirginsky mine. On the other side of the house there is a waste tip from another mine. Our village is surrounded by coal mining, and the dust which blows from the mines and waste heaps coats everything…I’m afraid that Shor people will soon become extinct. This is why the most important thing is the protection of our ecology, our rivers, our taiga for the protection of our nation. We cannot live without [them].”

While the impacts of burning coal in power station on our climate receives some attention the human and local ecological consequences are almost always overlooked. But the consequences are dire:

“I wish that people became more aware of where their coal comes from. And about the consequences” says Luz Angela Uriana Epiayu, mother of Moisés Daniel, a young child who is seriously ill with lung disease living next to the Cerrejón coal mine, owned by foreign interests.

The giant open-pit Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira, northern Colombia. The mine is the biggest of its kind in the world and is jointly owned by Anglo American, BHP and Glencore. The Cerrejón mine is in Wayúu indigenous territory and when mining began over 30 years ago, local people were not consulted. Instead their lands were seized, and communities were forcibly displaced, violating their constitutional land rights. The Colombian government has failed to adequately compensate any of the affected communities. Pollution and dust from the coal mine has caused the contamination of water supplies and the air.

Narlis Guzmán Angulo a human rights defender from Cesar in Colombia living near the Drummond coal mine says, “In La Sierra we have always been able to feed ourselves with our agriculture, but that is over... Opencast coal mining ruined everything. It has brought us all this: the collapse of the social fabric, unemployment, death, missing persons, displaced persons, political corruption, the loss of the vocation of our ancestors, the loss of our roots, environmental pollution, disease, prostitution, the sexual commercialisation of children, drug addiction, and poisoned water...”.

The answer to these problems is not to open more coal mines in Europe. True solidarity with people at the front-lines of coal extraction means closing all coal mines globally and to move rapidly away from technology which relies on coal and produces vast emissions.

Read the full report https://stillburning.net/book/ and also see films about these issues by Still Burning here.

52 people tragically killed in mining explosion in Kuzbass region of Russia

November 26th 2021

We are deeply saddened to hear that yesterday (25th November 2021) a suspected methane explosion killed 52 people, including 6 rescuers, at the Listvyazhnaya coal mine. The underground mine lies close to the town of Gramoteino, in the heavily mined Kuzbass coal field.

Climate Justice Memorial at Chubb Insurance, Newcastle

November 5th 2021

Today, on the eve of COP26 climate talks Coal Action Network were joined by Youth Strikers from across the world and the Pacific Climate Warriors, to set up a climate justice memorial at Lloyd’s of London HQ. The climate memorial was created to remember communities on the front lines of climate breakdown, who are being directly impacted by harmful projects and climate impacts.

Johnson’s first comment on proposed Cumbrian coal mine

November 3rd 2021

On the first day of the Conference of Parties Climate summit (COP26) in Glasgow Boris Johnson for the first time has said that he is not in favour of a new coal mine in the UK. Tommy Greene explains what happened in an article on Left Foot Forward.

People from Across the World hold Climate Memorial at Lloyd’s of London

October 29th 2021

Overview of the process to open a coal mine in the UK

October 20th 2021

This is a step-by-step guide as to how a company gets the legal stuff they need in place before they can start a new coal mine, or extend an existing one.

Climate Justice Memorial at Lloyd’s of London

October 8th 2021

Today [8th October 2021], protesters from Coal Action Network set up a climate justice memorial at Lloyd’s of London’s Head Quarters.

Final day of public inquiry into proposed Cumbrian coking coal mine

October 1st 2021

Today (1st October) is the last day of the public inquiry into the proposed West Cumbria coal mine. The inspector will privately deliberate the evidence presented, write up a report and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who is now Michael Gove.

New Coal Action Network report ~ Coal in Steel: Problems and solutions

September 15th 2021

New report from Coal Action Network. Coal in Steel provides background information to campaigns against proposed new coking coal mines and considering how coal needs to be phased out of steel production.

Creative opposition to proposed Cumbrian coking coal mine on first day of public inquiry

September 8th 2021

From West Cumbria to London, opposition to the controversial proposal for an underground coking
coal mine, sited near Whitehaven, is widespread and growing. On 7th September, the day the
public inquiry investigating the proposal by West Cumbria Mining Ltd started, members of the public gather in two locations to demand a greener future, in which a new coal mine has no place.

12 3 4 5

Never miss an update! Sign up to our Newsletter

OTHER STORIES