Germany must step up fight against global warming: Environmental group

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) – Environmental group Fridays for Future on Friday took to the streets of Berlin, calling on the German government to intensify its efforts in the fight against global warming.

Germany's top climate activist Luisa Neubauer told the mostly teenage crowd that the demonstrations were intended to put pressure on the governing coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and liberal Free Democrats.

"The traffic light (governing coalition) wanted to be a coalition of progress. Today, it is at best a coalition of standstill. And those who stand still while the crises unfold are staggering backward," Neubauer said.

"We here have long understood that the greatest threat to human freedom and security is never a climate measure, but will always be the climate crisis," she added, as protesters held up signs in support of green energy and against fossil fuels.

Demonstrations and rallies have been announced on all continents. Some 250 campaigns are planned in Germany alone.

The ver.di labor union, which has called for warning strikes in local transport in several federal states, also participated in the demonstration. Ver.di and activists are demanding more money for the expansion of buses and trains so that climate-damaging car traffic decreases.

For Germany, Fridays for Future demands, among other things, a coal phase-out by 2030, a 100% renewable energy supply by 2035 and the immediate end of subsidies for fossil fuels and an expansion freeze for highways.

The current call for a strike laments the fact that terminals for the import of liquefied gas are being built in Germany at a rapid pace, while the expansion of renewable energies is still faltering.

At the international level, one of the key calls for politicians is to stop the financing of all oil and gas projects worldwide in order to avert the impending climate catastrophe and to meet the 1.5 degrees target.