Action group Extinction Rebellion organized a demonstration in front of the office of the Russian gas company Gazprom on Museumplein on Monday. The group is calling on the Dutch government to stop investing in Gazprom, because they believe it is financing Putin’s war.
The action group calls on everyone to end cooperation with Gazprom. “Gazprom is owned by the Russian state and is currently the main source of income in Russia. This war, Putin’s war, is being fueled by the sale of oil, gas and coal, and the Netherlands also has a role in this,” says Ilse Oldenburg of Extinction Rebellion.
“We have to hit him where we can and that is with his money”
According to one of the protesters, the boycott of Gazprom is the way to get in the way of Putin. “Gazprom finances Putin’s war. Almost a billion a day goes into his war. We have to hit him where we can and that is with his money. This really has to stop.”
The Russian company extracts gas and oil from the North Sea, has a large share in the Dutch gas storage capacity and supplies gas to municipalities and water boards, among others. “It’s not just about importing, but also about the transit of the gas,” says Oldenburg. The Netherlands is fifteen percent dependent on gas from Russia, but that can be done differently according to the demonstrators: “The Netherlands is not terribly dependent on Gazprom, which is why we can easily stop. Just a little less gas, the pressure down a bit and we’re done with it.”
The municipality of Amsterdam and the water board are doing as much as possible to make Amsterdam and the surrounding area as little dependent as possible on foreign sources. “For example, there is a new green gas installation in the Houthavens that produces gas from sewage treatment,” says the Amstel, Gooi en Vecht water board.
Warm sweaters
According to another protester, there are enough solutions: “There are more sustainable sources, we have wind energy and solar energy. We can put on warm sweaters, for example. I think we can do without or with less gas.”
Oldenburg realizes that sustainable energy sources take time and that the short term must also be considered: “We must now focus on energy saving and importing from other countries to absorb the blow in the short term. But it is also important to to look at the long term, which has not been done by the government for years.”
? Don’t want to miss anything from Amsterdam?
Seen a typo? Let us know at [email protected]