Heidelberg, Building Future! | Open Letter – It’s Time to End Cement

+++ Running Action: Open Letter +++

HEIDELBERG,
Build FUTURE!

Stop Climate Killer Sponsorship

Open Letter to the City of Heidelberg

Subject: Heidelberg, build the future! Stop Climate Killer Sponsorship!

We want to preserve for our children and fellow human beings an earth where one can live in safety. This is why Heidelberg has already declared a climate emergency in 2019.

But meanwhile, carry with you Heidelberg Materials a corporation the name of our city, which the largest CO2 emissions of all German companies. With cement production, it causes gigantic emissions and has No realistic plan change that. For this purpose, the company acts in violation of international law and worldwide Land grabbing, expulsion of indigenous groups, exploitation of workers, breach of international law and cooperation with dictatorships accused of.

When it comes to demands for compensation for those affected and an independent human rights report, we at Heidelberg Materials only fall on deaf ears.

I will sign it.

We demand from the city of Heidelberg:

1. No sponsorship by Heidelberg Materials

Heidelberg Materials refuses to set up a compensation fund and commission an independent report on their compliance with human rights.

As long as this still does not happen, this group may Not at city cultural eventslike the Heidelberg Spring, as a benefactor.

Cement cannot be the future. The city of Heidelberg must drawn citizens*Interior Council for the Construction Turn in Heidelberg.

I will sign it.

Around the world, the name of our city is increasingly associated with environmental degradation, human rights violations and exploitation.

Started by

The End Cement Group

Signing as a group

FAQ

What happens to the open letter?

With the Open Letter we will address the heidelberg municipal council and annoy with our demands until they are implemented.

The Open Letter is probably only the first step in the campaign. If the municipal council does not respond, we will press for it with more radical actions.

What has Heidelberg Materials responded to the demands so far?

On 16 May In May 2024, we presented Heidelberg Materials at their Annual General Meeting our demands and clearly a compensation fund and an independent report.

But instead of going into it It was only stressed, that we already respect human rights in principle and already have enough in mind internally. The compensation fund is also too much to ask for, after all, they are already renewing (no joke) zebra crossings in Bulgaria and are already doing enough for the local communities...

Since then, there has been no further response from Heidelberg Materials to the demands.

How else can I support?

Together, we will collect signatures and raise awareness with actions in the coming months. If you want to be there, call on the mailing list an.

← On the Main Side

Why a Citizen*Interior Council for the construction change?

We all want a healthy planet that does not slip into a self-reinforcing climate crisis. For this we urgently need a change of construction and cement cannot be the future. Heidelberg Materials and the other cement manufacturers account for 7-8% of all global CO2 emissions [1], and they have no credible plan to change that. Their only solutions are "alternative fuels" and carbon capture [2]:

However, 'alternative fuels' is simply a nice name for garbage, i.e. car tyres, sewage sludge, plastics, meat-and-bone meal, etc., which has been incinerated in cement plants for years, largely exempt from regulations, instead of coal. In their eyes, green is the whole thing only because the cement companies are not accounted for emissions [3], they still create.

At Carbon Capture, the cement industry plans to pump millions of tonnes of CO2 under the sea every year. With other building materials, they would not be emitted in the first place, but the industry thinks it needs a gigantic new infrastructure of ships, trucks and pipelines, which would transport nothing other than CO2 and could not only let everything escape through leaks, but also residents.*can take the air to breathe, as it happened in 2020 in the city of Sartaria [4]. CO2 capture would require new, expensive technology that would not only triple energy consumption but also provide additional particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and ammonia emissions [5].

Nevertheless, the cement industry plans to pump out more than one billion tonnes of CO2 each year in 2050 [6]. From the perspective of Dominik von Achten and Co, it is more than understandable to stick to technological miracle solutions. After all, the cement industry cannot simply be converted in a climate-neutral manner - the limestone that has to be burned for production necessarily releases CO2 [2].

Therefore, our real answer must be: Bauwende, now!

We need to avoid cement as much as possible – and Heidelberg can now lead the way.

We need fewer new buildings, which means that every demolition must be critically questioned and new buildings avoided. First, the existing buildings should be distributed fairly. What is built must be built better, with reused materials or directly ecological building materials such as wood and clay. The cement that still has to be used must be produced without human and international law violations and be produced as energetically as possible. [7,8,9]

The solution will not be easy, so we need a drawn citizen*Interior Council that deals with it. Only by citizens*interior councils, which by drawing lots represent a representative cityscape and by experts*Being supported inside, citizens can*Inside the city itself, complex questions such as the reversal of the building can be decided without being influenced by Franktion constraints and constraints on the tips of heidelberg Materials [10].

Three years ago, all the parliamentary candidates Heidelbergers of the CDU, Greens and SPD clearly stated that they were citizens*Interior councils at federal level want, so time to implement it locally [11].

It's time for Heidelberg*Moving within!

Sources:

HEIDELBERG, Build FUTURE!

Stop Climate Killer Sponsorship

1. No sponsorship by Heidelberg Materials

Started by

The End Cement Group

FAQ

HEIDELBERG,
Build FUTURE!