FAQ
When, where and what is this action about?
Ende Gelände calls for action during May 28-30 in the Ruhr region.
This will be a mass action of civil disobedience against the planned expansion of gas power plants. For the gas-phase out and for climate justice.
There is also a climate camp in Hamm . Feel free to arrive as early as Sunday, May 24, when setup begins. The camp program starts on Wednesday, May 27. Breakdown begins on Sunday, May 30.
On May 30, environmental groups, NGOs, and Fridays For Future are planning a demonstration against gas.
What is Ende Gelände?
Ende Gelände is an activist coalition that has been organizing protests against fossil fuels since 2015. The group gained prominence through its actions at large open-pit lignite mines, where thousands of people dressed in white painter’s overalls entered the pits together, effectively taking the phase-out of coal into their own hands. Since 2021, Ende Gelände has also been protesting against natural gas, because we want to prevent the phase-out of coal from simply turning into a shift toward other fossil fuels. That would achieve nothing. Ende Gelände identifies as anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, internationalist, and queer-feminist.
What is the goal for this action?
The goal of the Ende Gelände’s 2026 campaign is to prevent the construction of new gas-fired power plants in Germany. The federal government is currently planning to build new gas-fired power plants with a total capacity of 12 gigawatts. That amounts to about 20 new gas-fired power plants. Economy Minister Katherina Reiche, in particular, wants to build even more power plants. Last year, Chancellor Merz announced plans for 50 new power plants.
We want to stop all power plants from being built. Another goal of this campaign is to expose the gas industry’s lobbying lies. So far, the federal government has uncritically accepted the industry’s narratives and positions, turning a blind eye to just how harmful to the climate, expensive, violent, and unsafe fossil gas is. We want to change that and work together to phase out gas.
Why is this action against gas? 6 reasons.
Too long; didn’t read
Gas redistributes money from the bottom up, from tenants to corporate executives and shareholders. It makes us dependent on fascist imperialists and is based on colonial and authoritarian exploitation. The beneficiaries are a handful of corporate executives, the fossil fuel industry and its lobby, parts of the chemical and arms industries, and fascist despots like Trump and Putin.
We do not view gas as merely a technical issue of energy supply, but as an instrument of power. The construction of gas-fired power plants reinforces domination and exploitation, deepens social injustices and fuels wars and new colonial supply chains. We want to break this cycle of violence and exploitation. That is why we say: No more expansion of gas!
We do not view gas as merely a technical issue of energy supply, but as an instrument of power. The construction of gas-fired power plants reinforces domination and exploitation, deepens social injustices and fuels wars and new colonial supply chains. We want to break this cycle of violence and exploitation. That is why we say: No more expansion of gas!
1 – Gas is a climate killer
Fossil gas is a climate killer. When considering the entire production process, it is just as harmful to the climate as lignite. It consists of 90% methane, which escapes into the atmosphere through numerous leaks during extraction, transport, conversion, and combustion. Over the first 20 years, methane warms the atmosphere nearly 90 times more than CO2 (DLF, Verband der Geothermie). Various studies have shown that far more methane is being released into the atmosphere than corporations have long claimed (DUH, Guardian). This makes natural gas a catalyst for the climate crisis.
2 – Gas ist expensive for private households
Gas is one of the most expensive technologies for producing energy. Building gas-fired power plants is not economically viable, so they must be subsidized with public funds – the taxes we all pay. Just how uneconomical these plans are is evident from the fact that even business-oriented associations and newspapers, as well as members of Katherina Reiche’s own party, are criticizing the expansion of gas (Handelsblatt).
While the government is further subsidizing the price of electricity for industry to create an “industrial electricity rate” (Tagesschau), households with gas heating systems are paying full price. And those prices are rising. The electricity price is determined by the “merit order system”. This means that while our electricity is a mix of different energy sources (for example, cheaper renewable and more expensive fossil fuel-based electricity), we ultimately pay the price of the most expensive source. Since gas is already one of the most expensive forms of power generation, our energy prices rise with every new gas-fired power plant added to the grid.
The same applies to our heating costs: the high cost of building gas infrastructure is passed on to energy prices. This means that households ultimately end up helping to pay for these expensive networks (Fraunhofer).
Tenants are also at the mercy of their landlords’ decisions. For landlords, installing gas heating is currently cheaper, but it is the tenants who end up paying the high heating costs. That is why the Tenant’s association has long been calling on the government to provide more support for the transition from gas to renewable heating technologies, thereby easing the burden on tenants. German Tenants’ Association
Renewable energies are therefore the most cost-effective option in every respect. However, in order for us to truly benefit from them, the right infrastructure must be put in place through policy measures (Forschung und Wissen).
Tenants are also at the mercy of their landlords’ decisions. For landlords, installing gas heating is currently cheaper, but it is the tenants who end up paying the high heating costs. That is why the Tenant’s association has long been calling on the government to provide more support for the transition from gas to renewable heating technologies, thereby easing the burden on tenants. German Tenants’ Association
Renewable energies are therefore the most cost-effective option in every respect. However, in order for us to truly benefit from them, the right infrastructure must be put in place through policy measures (Forschung und Wissen).
3 – Gas Makes Us Dependent on Fascists
Germany is almost entirely dependent on imports for its fossil gas. With Russia’s war against Ukraine, German policymakers have become painfully aware of their dependence on Russian gas. In response, Robert Habeck traveled to Qatar and the U.S. to purchase liquefied natural gas (LNG) (FT, TAZ ). The previous „Ampel“ coalition has decided to build nine new LNG import terminals on the North German coast. In response, Ende Gelände had already organized major protests on Rügen 2023 (TAZ).
With this gas policy, the German government is once again making our energy supply dependent on others: Putin is being replaced by Trump and the Gulf monarchies. Yet, even the U.S. government’s 2025 foreign policy strategy states that it will strategically use its “energy dominance” to exert power over other nations (White House, p.14). We do not want our warm living rooms in winter to be dependent on fascists, whether Putin or Trump, or despots like the Emir of Qatar.
4 – Gas is connected to imperial and colonial violence
Gas extraction is usually dirty, destructive, and harmful to health. No one wants a gas well in their backyard. That’s because it contaminates water and air and can trigger earthquakes. We stand with communities opposing local natural gas drilling, as demonstrated by our campaign in Reichling, Bavaria.
But because extraction is so harmful, these dirty fossil fuels are primarily extracted in places where people are most oppressed—in autocracies with a colonial legacy. Ultimately, it is regions in Iran, Iraq, Russia, Argentina, or in Black neighborhoods in the U.S. where gas companies poison the air, displace people, murder them, or make them sick through pollution. Those who resist must expect violence and death. Wars are also often fought over fossil fuels. When the German government promotes the use of gas, it is also promoting this colonial and authoritarian oppression.
5 – Gas serves the interest of a billion-dollar lobby
With all the trouble gas causes, you sometimes find yourself scratching your head and wondering: WHY on earth is the government doing this?
A key reason is that a a href=”https://jung-naiv.podigee.io/1077-764-journalistin-annika-joeres-uber-die-macht-der-ol-gaslobby” data-cke-saved-href=”https://jung-naiv.podigee.io/1077-764-journalistin-annika-joeres-uber-die-macht-der-ol-gaslobby”>multi-billion-dollar lobby has been spreading lies on behalf of the fossil fuel industry for decades and has direct pipelines to the political establishment . They have also created the myths that gas is “low-emission”, a “bridge technology to hydrogen”, “cheap” or “necessary.” These claims have since been scientifically debunked (Gaswende).
But with Katherina Reiche, a gas lobbyist has now risen to the top of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and is cheerfully continuing down this path. Shortly before taking this position, she worked in the executive suite at the fossil fuel company E.ON, and she is now simply parroting the demands of E.ON and RWE (Table.Media).
But with Katherina Reiche, a gas lobbyist has now risen to the top of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and is cheerfully continuing down this path. Shortly before taking this position, she worked in the executive suite at the fossil fuel company E.ON, and she is now simply parroting the demands of E.ON and RWE (Table.Media).
6 – Gas means profits for fossil fuel companies, the defense industry, and Big Tech
In Germany, the major energy companies have missed the boat when it comes to the transition to renewable energy and have been blocking it for years in order to preserve their power and profits. That is why they are deliberately building gas-fired power plants and pipelines in areas where energy-intensive industries are located and where they previously operated power plants.
The Ruhr region is home not only to the headquarters of several energy companies, but also to key sites in the defense industry. Added to this are new sectors such as data centers, which consume staggering amounts of energy to train AI models. To meet this demand, additional gas-fired power plants are already being built at other locations (FR, Handelsblatt).
The Ruhr region is home not only to the headquarters of several energy companies, but also to key sites in the defense industry. Added to this are new sectors such as data centers, which consume staggering amounts of energy to train AI models. To meet this demand, additional gas-fired power plants are already being built at other locations (FR, Handelsblatt).
We criticize this industry both for its unprecedented hunger for energy and profits and for what comes out of it: aside from all the other bullshit, gas in the arms industry and Big Tech primarily fuels surveillance and violence. There is a massive lack of democratic participation and oversight. Instead, we are witnessing a cycle of crisis and fear through which funds are siphoned off from all areas of our daily lives and redistributed to the arms industry and Big Tech.
We’re standing up to this, and we have 100 billion better ideas for our future!