Investigations against LEAG: Environmental scandal involving lignite emissions!

Investigations against LEAG: Environmental scandal involving lignite emissions!

A storm of indignation is sweeping through the region: On November 3, 2025, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) filed a criminal complaint against the board of directors and the supervisory board of Lausitz Energie Eisenbahn AG (LEAG). The reason for these legal steps are serious allegations relating to incomplete information on emissions in open-cast lignite mining.
The Cottbus public prosecutor's office has already started investigations, and the DUH is demanding comprehensive information about the company's actual emissions and the financial risks from the obligation to recultivate. According to a report by the DUH, the report was filed in April 2025 after suspicions emerged about significant emissions that were not listed in LEAG's management report.

Interchangeable numbers? The DUH also accuses LEAG of spreading misleading information in its excursus on renewable energies. Federal Managing Director Sascha Müller-Kraenner emphasizes the urgency of taking environmental regulations and reporting obligations seriously. It should be noted that the presumption of innocence applies until the proceedings are legally concluded.

Environmental issues in focus

But what does this incident mean for the environment? The mining and use of brown coal has serious negative effects on nature and the landscape. Entire areas of land are devastated, groundwater is damaged and settlements are affected, as BUND NRW explains. When brown coal is converted into energy, valuable carbon dioxide escapes and the water is heated by cooling water. In addition, opencast mining leaves large residual holes in which water is supposed to accumulate over many decades.

The facts speak for themselves: By the end of 2024, 34,457 hectares of land in the Rhineland had been claimed by open-cast lignite mining, of which 24,026 hectares had already been made usable again. This happened in various forms: 13,156 hectares were prepared for agricultural purposes, 8,838 hectares were reforested, and 820 hectares are now available as water areas. The operating area is currently 10,431 hectares, and around 4 billion cubic meters of “overburden” were mined between 2013 and 2024.

Financial and environmental responsibility

It is clear that the extraction of lignite also represents an immense financial challenge. In order to extract 44 million tons of brown coal, 191 million tons of material had to be removed, which means that the current overburden-to-coal ratio is an impressive 4.36: 1. This not only shows how much material is moved for little coal, but also raises questions about sustainability.

What does the future look like? The development must be closely monitored because the effects of open-cast brown coal mining are not only felt regionally. They also bring with them a great responsibility for the environment and society.