Siemens boss Joe Kaeser has announced that his company will continue to participate in a coal mine project in Australia. - Soeren Stache / AP / SIPA

German group Siemens announced on Sunday that it would continue to participate in a controversial coal mine project in Australia, denounced by environmentalists as the country was hit by unprecedented fires.

“We have just finished our extraordinary meeting (…). We have evaluated all the options and have concluded that we have to fulfill our contractual commitments, ”said Siemens boss Joe Kaeser in a message on his twitter account. He also promised that his group would create a body responsible for sustainable development in order to "better manage environmental protection issues in the future".

An 18 million euro contract

The contract, worth 18 million euros, provides for Siemens to supply signage for the Carmichael project railway in Queensland, near the Great Barrier Reef.

Very controversial, the construction of the mine has since its origin been weighed down by legal and regulatory problems and by the mobilization of organizations relentlessly denouncing its environmental impact.

It seems that @SiemensDE have the power to stop, delay or at least interrupt the building of the huge Adani coal mine in Australia. On Monday they will announce their decision. Please help pushing them to make the only right decision. #StopAdani

- Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 11, 2020

The @SiemensDE group has the power to put an end to the mega coal mine project in Australia, which we talked about in #SurLeFront. Let's get the word out to @Siemens_France: take action to end this environmental disaster! https://t.co/v7rpxXcGpy

- Hugo Clément (@hugoclement) January 11, 2020

The boss of Siemens had met Friday Luisa Neubauer and Nick Heubeck, two representatives of the environmental movement Fridays for Future, which had organized demonstrations Friday in dozens of German cities to protest against the participation of the group in this project.

27 million tonnes of coal

In December, Kaeser promised to "take the dispute seriously". Siemens, which says it supports the Paris climate agreement, wants to become carbon neutral by 2030.

The mine is expected to produce up to 27 million tonnes of coal per year, said the Indian conglomerate Adani, which initiated the project, which has the support of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, last year.

Environmentalists argue that the coal produced will contribute to global warming which degrades the Great Barrier, classified as World Heritage.

Many large banks have refused to partner with Carmichael, due to a growing desire to exit fossil fuels. Proponents of the project argue that the mine will create hundreds of jobs.

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  • Global warming
  • Fire
  • Siemens
  • Australia
  • World