German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a meetbin pickinging in Berlin, Tuesday, June 19, 2018, which prepares a climate change conference that takes place later this year in Poland’s city Katowice. (Pool photo Markus Schreiber / AP)
BERLIN — Hundreds of protesters are marching through the German capital to demand an end to burning coal to produce electricity.
The demonstrators – many of them families pushing strollers, people on bikes and samba bands – walked through the Berlin’s government district on Sunday, ahead of next week’s first meeting of Germany’s commission on exiting coal use.
Germany has invested a lot in renewable energy but still heavily relies on coal, which creates harmful carbon emissions when burnt. About 22 percent of Germany’s electricity still comes from burning soft lignite coal – and a further 12 percent from hard coal – while some 33 percent is now generated using renewable energy.

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