Munich (Germany) (AFP)

"Siemens, get out of the coal!": Environmental activists intend to invite Wednesday to the general assembly of Siemens to denounce the participation of the German industrial giant in a mining project in Australia.

Dozens of activists formed a human chain on Wednesday morning outside the conference hall of the Olympiahalle in Munich, where the annual investor meeting is scheduled to start at 9:00 GMT.

The environmental organization Greenpeace had deployed a banner the day before from the roof of the company's headquarters in Munich. And a demonstration is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon to ask the German industrial giant to "give up coal".

The object of the dispute is the contract worth 18 million euros which provides that Siemens will supply the signage for the railway for the Carmichael project, a huge surface coal mine in Queensland, near the Great Barrier Reef.

"What is more important: a slight short-term financial loss or the disastrous consequences of such a project for generations?" was indignant Tuesday at a press conference Helena Marschall, representative of the Fridays for Future movement.

She is invited by a shareholder organization to speak at the meeting in the same way as other activists.

The boss of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, had already met in mid-January Luisa Neubauer, leader of Fridays for Future in Germany, after a day of mobilization in ten cities.

A few days later, Siemens had nevertheless maintained its participation in the project, explaining wanting to "respect the word given" in order to "remain credible", the "highest priority" of the company, according to Mr. Kaeser.

However, he promised the creation of an internal body responsible for sustainable development to "better manage environmental protection issues in the future".

These arguments had not convinced opponents of the project.

The construction of the Adani Indian conglomerate mine in western Australia has been plagued by legal and regulatory problems since its inception and by the mobilization of organizations tirelessly denouncing its environmental impact.

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

© 2020 AFP