The Latest: Activists disrupt German coal power plant
The Latest on the climate talks in Bonn, Germany (all times local):
2:30 p.m.
Police and company officials say environmental activists have occupied conveyor belts and other equipment at a lignite-fired power station in western Germany, causing some disruption to the plant.
Police said several people in masks occupied the facility Wednesday at Weisweiler, west of Bonn, which is hosting global climate talks. News agency dpa reported that operator RWE said it switched off two of the four power generating units for lack of coal.
Activists want Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to phase out the use of coal, which generates about 40 percent of Germany's electricity. The
In Bonn itself, Greenpeace said 14 of its activists protested on a coal ship on the Rhine river, laying out a banner reading "Merkel's Dirty Secret: Coal" as it passed the conference venue.
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9:30 a.m.
World leaders arrive at the global climate talks in Germany on Wednesday to give the negotiations a boost going into the final stretch.
Attention will focus in particular on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces growing pressure to announce a firm deadline for ending her country's use of coal.
Environmental campaigners and poor countries say Merkel should use the event on home turf to signal Germany will phase out the heavily polluting fossil fuel by 2030.
But the timing is difficult for Merkel. After speaking at the climate talks in Bonn she flies back to Berlin for negotiations on forming a new government that would include a pro-business party, the Free Democrats, which opposes a coal deadline.
Also speaking Wednesday are U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and French President Emmanuel Macron.
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