Today, the Green Deal Summit – the largest Czech conference on the Green Deal, sustainability and energy – is taking place at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Prague, attended by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Environment Minister Petr Hladík. The opening of the conference was preceded by a protest happening organised by Greenpeace and the Re-set platform. Environmental activists dressed in masks of politicians and leading representatives of the main partners of the summint appeared in front of the banner „Greenwashing summit: For corporations, not for people“.
The performance drew attention to problematic partners of the conference – the fossil fuel company ČEZ, which is trying to extend coal mining at the Bílina coal mine, and Komerční banka (part of Societe General), which financially supports the fossil oligarch and the largest importer of Russian gas to Europe, Daniel Křetínský via his holding company EPH. According to environmental organizations, the partners of the Green Deal Summit are trying to greenwash their activities.
The ČEZ group includes the company Severočeské doly that is currently seeking to extend mining at the Bílina open-pit mine until at least 2035, which would have a major negative impact on the climate. The more than 8 million tonnes of coal mined at Bílina annually represent 11.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, approximately 10 percent of the annual emissions of the entire Czech Republic.
Komerční banka, which is a general partner of the Green Deal Summit, has long financed the coal baron Křetínský and his company EPH, which is one of the three largest European coal companies and already has the worst decarbonisation plans among European energy companies. On top of that, EPH is currently planning a major expansion of its gas infrastructure.
Companies such as ČEZ and Komerční banka may be trying to present themselves as environmentally friendly actors, but their coal and fossil finance activities are at odds with their sustainability and environmental goals. Komerční banka’s partnership with the Green Deal Summit raises questions about its real commitment to sustainability, especially in the context of its financial support for Daniel Křetínský’s fossil enterprises.
According to environmental organisations, concrete steps are also lacking on the part of the current government, whose chairman, Petr Fiala, and environment minister, Petr Hladík are attending the Green Deal Summit as well.
None of the scenarios of the forthcoming National Energy and Climate Plan of the Czech Republic achieves the required targets for the share of renewable energy sources (RES) and energy savings by 2030. To meet European commitments, the target for the share of RES in the Czech Republic’s energy consumption should be between 33 and 35 percent, but the latest scenario is at 30 percent. The proposal still puts an artificial limit on the development of renewables and instead specifies four new nuclear reactors as a mandatory input to the modelling, regardless of the cost and risks of construction delays.
Jaroslav Bican, head of the energy campaign of Greenpeace ČR, said: „CEZ Group proudly proclaims itself to be environmentally friendly and sustainable. However, its efforts to extend mining at the Bílina mine until at least 2035 completely contradict this. In fact, this is greenwashing, which must be vigorously rejected. Until it reconsiders its intention, it is more appropriate to speak of ČEZ as a company full of greenwashing.“
Radek Kubala, a researcher at Re-set, said: „Komerční banka is one of the biggest bank backers of EPH, a company that grew up on gas imports from Russia and through which its owner Daniel Křetínský consistently delays the necessary end of coal in Germany while planning to build new large scale gas infrastructure . If we are to take the Commercial Bank’s words on climate protection seriously, it must abandon its collaboration with the problematic fossil fuel oligarch. Otherwise it is just cheap greenwashing.“
Miriam Macurová, Head of Climate Campaign at Greenpeace ČR, said: „The National Energy and Climate Plan, which is currently undergoing inter-ministerial comment procedure, is a crucial document that will determine the shape of energy transformation and climate protection in the Czech Republic. Maximizing the targets for RES and energy savings is essential for the Czech Republic to meet its climate commitments. It is unacceptable for the Czech Republic to fixate on nuclear power at the expense of these solutions, which will not help us solve the climate crisis by 2030 and which is supported at all costs by Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela.“