Siemens said it intends to honor a controversial contract to supply signaling systems to an Australian coal mine, defying the demands of activists who said they will continue protests in Germany on Monday.
The company will establish a sustainability committee that will have the power to stop or escalate projects, but the company will ultimately continue with the Adani contract, Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser said in a statement on Sunday.
“I do realize, most of you would have hoped for more,” Kaeser said in the statement. “While I do have a lot of empathy for environmental matters, I do need to balance different interests of different stakeholders.”
Fridays for Future activists, including Greta Thunberg, put pressure on Siemens to renounce the contract and not work with Adani Power Ltd. on the planned Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.
“Siemens’ announcement that it will continue working on Adani’s coal mine while bushfires rage in Australia is nothing short of shameful,” envi..