BACKGROUND INFOS

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:

[1] https://gccassociation.org/concretefuture/

[2] https://www.vdz-online.de/wissensportal/publications/decarbonisation-of-cement-and-concrete-reduction pathways-and-action strategies

[3] http://www

[4] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gassing-satartia-mississippi-co2-pipeline_n_60ddea9fe4b0ddef8b0ddc8f

[5] https://www.ciel.org/reports/deep-trouble-the-risks-of-offshore carbon-capture-and-storage-november-2023/

[6] https://gccassociation.org/concretefuture/

[7] https://www.architects4future.de/

[8] https://www.bauhauserde.org/

[9] https://dwenteignen.de/

[10] https://www.buergerrat.de/wissen/was-bringen-buergerraete/

[11] https://mittendrin.buergerrat.de/aktuelles/heidelberg-3-0-fuer-buergerraete/

BACKGROUND INFOS

Why not Heidelberg Materials Sponsorship?

Heidelberg Materials has done enough damage worldwide. Whether in Togo, Western Sahara, Palestine or Indonesia, the group has caused environmental destruction, expulsion and exploitation worldwide and has therefore received counter-protest [1].

The least would be to apologize, but instead the destruction already documented in several docs and newspaper reports is simply denied and the protest ignored. On May 16, 2024, at the shareholders’ meeting of Heidelberg Materials, we demanded that we finally give butter to the fish and presented two demands:

1. Pay compensation: In times of record profits, it is not much to ask for 30ct per share and a compensation fund of 50 million € for affected people in Indonesia, Western Sahara, Togo and Palestine.

2. Ensure transparency: commission an independent report on your human rights, everything else is whitewashing and eyewashing. [2]

The top management has refused to respond and instead only emphasizes that they already respect human rights in principle and already have enough internal attention. The compensation fund is also too much to ask for, they are already renewing (no joke) zebra crossings in Bulgaria and doing enough for the local communities... [3] Since then, there has been no further response from Heidelberg Materials to the demands.

At the same time, the company may present itself as a benefactor at city cultural events and the accusations are not mentioned with a word. Whether at the Heidelberg Theater, the Heidelberg Autumn or the Heidelberg Spring, the group is a top sponsor and generously allows the use of its entrance hall for concerts - while it promotes indigenous peoples elsewhere [4].

We should no longer allow this whitewashing. As long as neither a compensation fund nor an independent human rights report have been set up, we as Heidelbergers must*We are fighting this whitewashing.

Sources:

[1] https://end-cement.earth/#struggles

[2] https://end-cement.earth/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/KA Counterapplication Heidelberg Materials-2024-1.pdf

[3] https://end-cement.earth/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Opinion-on-the-counter motions-1.pdf

[4] https://end-cement.earth/indonesia