The World's Most Dangerous Show with Joko Winterscheidt (2023–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - S1E3 - full transcript
The climate crisis is not about to happen.
It is already happening.
Energy should be renewable.
We want to be the first
to rely fully on new energies.
At least everyone gets that now and acts.
Above all industry.
That's great.
Finding the way to safe
and intelligent energy.
Electricity means work.
Automotive electricity, 100% electric.
However, I get the strange feeling
that there is a difference
between talking and doing.
This is the way
to secure, affordable and intelligent...
I wanted to make a film
about greenwashing.
Greenwashing are green promises
made by companies.
Promises that make us feel
very good when shopping,
but which are nonsense...
because these promises are broken
or do not solve the actual problem at all.
Here in Kampala, Uganda,
I'm standing on one of the largest
garbage dumps in East Africa.
And I find tons of plastic
that should never have ended up here.
Here look.
Why do we recycle if it ends up here?
Look here. Recycling.
Recycling.
Recycling.
Recycling.
On my journey, I encountered
numerous industry practices
that are far more severe
than I could've ever imagined.
It's about lies and systematic prevention
of climate protection.
Oh my God.
Oh God, why is everyone so negative?
Sounds like a conspiracy thriller.
There are many documents
that also prove that.
It is one in some way.
My odyssey has made one thing clear to me.
We're dealing
with a powerful propaganda machine.
Nothing is like it seems.
And then I got attacked as well.
Hi, Joko.
The green leek.
Let's rewind.
For a greener, healthier life.
Breathe.
We do the rest.
We stand by it with our name.
"THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING."
IMAGE CHANGE THROUGH CLIMATE CHANGE?
My name is Joko Winterscheidt.
I'm in by far the neatest forest
I've ever set foot in.
No wonder.
Everything has been
artificially created since the '80s.
You'll never guess who did that.
They even advertise it.
At the energy company RWE,
sustainability is
firmly anchored in all areas.
An example of this is
the exemplary recultivation
that helps to increase biodiversity.
A recultivation?
Why do we need new landscapes here?
What was wrong with the old ones?
What happened here?
And who is the woman by my side anyway?
Kathrin Hartmann is
a greenwashing expert in Germany.
In books, interviews and lectures,
the journalist uncovers
the lies of the industry.
Greenwashing is the attempt
by companies and institutions
to pretend they are more sustainable.
We met to talk
about the phenomenon of greenwashing
in a seemingly perfect place for it.
An ideal symbol.
This thing here is what greenwashing is.
-This is greenwashing?
-Yes.
This atmospheric bit of nature which
is sold to us as a pastoral paradise
is in reality the dumping ground
of Europe's largest CO2 emitter.
We're standing
on over a billion cubic meters
of the stuff that's not needed
in the open-pit lignite mine next door.
-And we are standing on the heap, right?
-Exactly.
That's why greenwashing
is so dangerous in general
because the bad stuff is covered up.
The bad stuff
like the mining of coal goes on.
What is greenwashed about
the artificially created Sophienhöhe,
and why exactly is
this clean forest a huge illusion?
I get my answers a few kilometers on.
-I don't want to look at it just yet.
-Exactly.
There's a place we'll go to now
and I want wait for the exact moment
because I haven't seen it before.
You can stop here. Exactly.
Yes.
HAMBACH
NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, GERMANY
-Oh my God.
-Yes.
The biggest hole in Europe.
I can't believe it.
Whole towns have been demolished
for open-pit mines in the last decades!
The resulting holes
are up to 400 meters deep
and easily 6,000 football pitches in size.
Dug by the world's largest excavators.
Look, this is a pickup truck.
They're still digging for lignite here.
The most important energy source
of the last millennium
unfortunately got us in trouble
with its CO2 emissions.
-Oh God. That is insane.
-Yes.
Now you can imagine how the Sophienhöhe,
where we were before...
What a small part that would take up here.
The Hambach open-pit mine is three
times bigger than the Sophienhöhe.
It's still expanding and destroying
a century-old natural environment.
Even the best recultivation cannot fix
the damage caused.
But RWE explains it differently.
Recultivation in the Rhine mining area
is an integral part of lignite mining...
LARS KULIK
CEO LIGNITE MINING - RWE POWER
...and is progressing continuously
alongside it.
RWE responded to the greenwashing
allegations as follows:
We're recultivating so extensively
because mining is rightly obliged
to leave behind a landscape
that can be used in many ways
and leaves many options
for use by future generations.
Some areas of the man-made landscape
are already protected.
Local people value recultivation,
and it has an undisputed reputation
among professionals around the world.
Recultivation does not intend
to greenwash coal mining.
I'm trying to sort this out in my head.
Before this, it was like a lid.
-Yes, exactly.
-The thing was closed.
There were villages, fields, forest.
It's also really absurd that it has
now been set up as a tourist attraction.
This is seriously
the official viewing point
with a restaurant
and adventure playground.
There's even a small open-air gym.
Life during an apocalypse
is normalized here.
I have to look at that padlock.
-Normally they are...
-Oh God!
I can hardly imagine
a more romantic location.
"Daniel and Regina!"
There's another one.
"Olaf and Manuela."
Sorry, folks, the world is ending
before our eyes,
and here they invite you
to celebrate exactly that.
How about a bag of popcorn with that?
That's some cynicism. That's hard to top.
Here it says:
"With this ambitious project,
"RWE is committed to the goals
of the Paris Agreement."
This is the most climate-damaging type
of energy in existence.
They just keep it going.
Sure, when you look at it and read
"climate neutral by 2040,"
you'd think, "They're doing really well."
Then Kathrin changes the subject.
Suddenly, it's about me.
And this documentary.
Now that we're friends.
So about Amazon...
They are also among the companies
that cause quite a lot of climate damage
and emit CO2 into the air.
60 million tons a year.
That amount increased again just recently.
They aren't saviors of the world.
They are part of the problem.
I don't know if anyone can imagine
how hard and heavy the penny
dropped for me in that moment.
So are we also contributing
to greenwashing?
Harsh allegations against my client.
I'll definitely talk to them about it.
But at the moment,
I am just very confused.
Hi, Joko!
Old buddy!
You look green, honestly.
I heard you found
your ecological conscience again.
How cool, right.
Except I didn't know
you used to have one. Right?
Remember a few years ago
when you did those ads?
For this fast food chain...
What's the name? You know.
Producing these continent-sized amounts
of packaging waste, meat and CO2
and feeding millions of people
into obesity!
You even played a big burger for them.
Even if there was a real shitstorm, right?
What does it matter?
Cash waterproofs well!
The criticism just runs off down
the drain of your conscience.
The cruise ship thing
where they water-skied you along.
Hey, that was funny.
Sure. It was also a bit
of advertising for that kind of travel
where a single ship uses
as much oil in a day as 84,000 cars.
They use heavy fuel oil
which, by the way, is banned on land
because it contains 3,500 times
more sulfur than gasoline.
Come on, just bury it.
After all, you've evolved and changed.
You're like the new
sustainability superhero now.
The green leek.
Now you're making a climate documentary.
Not just for anyone,
but for Amazon Prime Video.
At Amazon.
The largest online retailer in the world.
The shopping paradise for pen-pushers.
Shop until you drop.
Delivered free of charge.
And send the shit back for free,
if you don't want it.
Amazon has made a firm promise
to become carbon neutral by 2040.
Yes! Scout's honor.
At Amazon, the emissions
have risen sharply since the announcement.
15% in a year, 19% thereafter.
Who cares. There's time.
They are totally serious.
Just don't rush it.
Sure! You'll sort it out.
Just don't switch on your brain
and give up.
Just close your eyes and carry on.
When the climate is saved,
you'll get a like and a smiley face
and an Amazon voucher.
How about that?
Thank you, Joko.
How can I continue
with a clear conscience?
It just doesn't make sense.
That's clear to me now.
I'll stop the documentary here.
I'm sorry.
And then I thought about stopping
the documentary
because... I don't want
to contribute to greenwashing.
Then I've done everything wrong.
I wanted to show people
grievances and solutions.
But if it's the opposite...
of what I actually wanted...
then I'd rather not do it.
Should I be ashamed
to do something like this?
I've already said I'm not a psychiatrist.
So if you really need therapy...
CHRISTIAN STÖCKER
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGIST
...find someone else.
I understand the problem.
I get it.
Anyone who deals with the topic
long enough gets to this point.
Would you like to do something about it?
-I thought I was doing it.
-Yes.
I look at the world
that I believe needs to be shown
for better or for worse
because we have to change it.
-Otherwise, nothing will happen.
-The alternative is to do nothing.
-Yes. That's no alternative.
-Exactly.
Once you realize how big the problem is,
doing nothing is not an option.
Should I even make such a documentary?
I'm not a saint myself.
I mean, I fly.
I don't have the smallest CO2 footprint.
It feels a little wrong to do it.
A carbon footprint is the impact we create
by simply living our lives.
These are the emissions
caused by our lifestyle.
It doesn't matter
if you're a saint or not.
I'll give you an example.
Two alcoholics are chatting.
One says to the other,
"You drink too much."
The other says, "You of all people
can't say that."
Is the first right or not?
-Sure, he is right.
-He is? Yes.
If the alcoholic tells the other one,
"You drink too much,"
he's still right.
That means, even if you were to eat
eight beef steaks a day
and travel all your journeys by plane,
which I would advise against,
for your health...
If you then said,
"Climate change is a huge problem
and we need to do something,"
you'd still be right.
For a tiny moment, I'm relieved.
Completely unjustified.
Because Christian has information
that hasn't let me sleep
peacefully to this day.
No matter how much you eat meat-free,
that does not shut down
a single coal power plant.
By changing our individual behavior
we might be doing ourselves a favor
or maybe we'll help the markets
change and there are other products,
but it'll never
be enough to solve the problem.
So the fundamental systemic changes
that need to take place
will not be brought about
by individual behavioral change.
And, it must be said.
The reference to individual behavior,
the carbon footprint,
is a propaganda tool of the oil industry.
Who came up with it?
BP!
There were ads on the subject.
All the CO2 calculators...
I don't want to be offensive
but it sounds like a conspiracy theory.
You can ask someone who knows about it.
You'll see.
It's a fact.
This campaign actually exists.
No joke.
What have I gotten myself into here?
I'm traveling to the US
to meet up with a woman
who was a PR consultant in this industry.
She left because she no longer
wanted to support
the fossil fuel industry.
She's now working
against their greenwashing strategies,
and she knows more than she can say.
We'll meet at a conspiratorial place
near San Francisco.
What is more conspiratorial
than a nature reserve outside town
right next to an oil refinery?
Christine Arena knows
the tricks of the fossil industry.
She used to be communications expert
at one of the world's largest PR agencies
with clients in the oil, alcohol
and auto industries.
There she helped
to promote eco and social issues
and learned details
that made her leave the company.
Today, she uses insider knowledge
to publicly criticize and accuse,
and thus uncover
the machinations of the corporations.
That sounds
like a crazy conspiracy theory.
The fossil fuel industry knew about it?
And they deliberately developed strategies
to prevent effective climate protection?
For decades?
Is there even evidence for that?
I'll be damned.
Oh God, why is everyone so negative?
You have to acknowledge
that some nice stuff came out of it.
From the whole campaign.
True works of art.
And if you think that the fossil energy
companies can only do greenwashing...
Not at all! Those in the know
speak of different phases.
Come with me.
I'll show you a couple of great specimens.
All real contemporary documents.
The four phases of effective
climate protection prevention.
Phase one: Distorting facts.
The industry has always known.
Now take a look at this beautiful ad.
"Every day we generate enough energy
"to melt seven million tons
of glacial ice."
Claimed a highly successful fossil company
called Humble
in its advertisement 60 years ago.
In 1962, of course, the industry already
knew what CO2 was doing.
And in case you never heard of Humble,
today they call themselves ExxonMobil.
They knew from the start
what damage was being done
and openly advertised it.
You can't say
that they lied about the glacier.
The opposite.
On the other hand,
just because a small glacier melts
doesn't necessarily mean global warming.
Phase two: Sow doubt.
What climate change?
Let's jump 30 years into the future.
Here we have a particularly
beautiful piece from 1991.
Man-made global warming?
That's just one theory among many.
That's so ingenious and so simple.
As a company, you don't say
something like that directly.
No, we get scientists
and let them say that.
As a man of science, I can tell you
that the evidence is too weak,
the models too imprecise.
Anyway nothing
has been proven yet, right?
Sounds exaggerated and made up?
For naive ears maybe.
But it's all really true.
Phase three: Create fear.
But our prosperity...
For some, the next piece
is just a strategy paper.
To me it is a masterpiece
to create uncertainty.
Once doubts about a climate catastrophe
are the talk of the town.
Bingo!
The facts shouldn't count,
but the doubts about the facts should.
And what is stronger than doubt?
Fear.
Fear.
All these climate protection
measures are expensive
and endanger our prosperity.
Create fear. That always works.
But now it's not that easy
to brush climate change aside.
What can you do now?
Of course you offer help.
Phase four: We are the solution.
The polluters as knights in shining armor.
We flood the market with phrases
that sound good and convey security.
Everyone should know:
We are part of the solution.
"Energy reinvents itself."
"Sustainability is the basis
of our strategy."
"We want to help the world
to become carbon neutral."
Yes, these are all great messages.
The industry is now helping
to clean up the mess it caused.
And in the end, only one thing counts.
Joko!
Let me tell you one thing.
It will continue to go on like this.
The industry will continue
to win every battle in the future...
simply because they have this.
We got the money, money, money
Whenever you want to talk
about climate change, Joko, anytime.
The more I dig,
the more I know and the shittier it gets.
I don't see light
at the end of the tunnel,
and I have the feeling...
that what I'm doing is totally in vain.
Because industry and business
have simply stopped anything
that would bring
positive change for decades.
There's no point doing this.
Well, we are dealing
with a very powerful propaganda machine
that has been
in operation for many, many years.
And why are we accepting this?
All the psychology is working
against bringing about this change.
Unfortunately.
The central concept is
cognitive dissonance.
It's a mental conflict that occurs
when your beliefs don't align
with your actions.
That creates an uncomfortable feeling.
It's uncomfortable for people to be told
that what you thought was good
for the last 30 years is now bad.
It makes people aggressive.
There are two methods that are used.
It's a process that runs automatically.
Consonant information is enhanced,
so your thoughts match your actions.
Every smoker knows a smoker
who lived to be 90.
All smokers also know
that you can die of lung cancer.
But the smoker who turned 90
is a fond memory.
Conversely, bearers
of dissonant information
are devalued.
That's what's happening.
People feel better
about themselves talking bad
about Greta Thunberg since what
Greta Thunberg says is so uncomfortable.
Why are we behaving so irrationally?
There are still smokers, right?
They all know it's not healthy.
They do it anyway.
As societies,
we have just become addicted.
We are now addicted to fossil fuels.
Oh God.
It's a huge problem
that lies have been told for so long
with so much money and so much effort.
So in my opinion...
telling people shit in such a major way
should not be allowed.
It can't be
that there are no consequences.
Well, let's put it this way.
One day, I predict...
the behavior of the fossil fuel
corporations will be considered criminal.
And by the way, there are already people
who take legal action, even successfully.
This is a constitutional state.
You can also sue.
I am Clara Mayer.
I have fought for climate justice
with Fridays for Future for three years.
Now I'm suing Volkswagen,
second largest car maker in the world,
to finally put a stop
to this climate-damaging company.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS SUE VOLKSWAGEN.
18-YEAR OLD READS THE RIOT ACT TO VW BOSS
Companies like VW risk our future
and climate safety.
I'm here to tell you...
VW GENERAL ASSEMBLY
...that what you're doing isn't enough.
My name is Dr. Roda Verheyen
and I am a lawyer.
I've been suing RWE AG since 2015.
You remember?
Those are the ones
with the biggest hole in Europe.
Oh my God.
I have also filed a complaint
with the European Union
about insufficient
climate protection targets.
I represented the constitutional
complaint by young adults
against the climate protection law.
We won this constitutional complaint.
It is the result of decades of work.
What we demand is achievable and feasible.
But it's not the end. On the contrary.
Climate lawsuits are crucial
to get climate protection.
With Clara Mayer
and the managing directors of Greenpeace,
we are suing VW AG.
Excuse me,
you two, could I talk to you both, please?
Come in.
I'm meeting
with climate activist Clara Mayer
and her attorney Roda Verheyen
to see if such a lawsuit
can really be the solution.
I was so frustrated that I wanted to quit.
I thought this project isn't productive.
I found it all the more fascinating
when I saw your story
about suing a corporation
as a private person.
Then maybe there is still hope.
In the end, it's a scandal
that a 20-year-old girl has to sue here.
We have a constitutionally confirmed right
to climate protection.
And Volkswagen, as the world's
second-largest car manufacturers,
continues to produce
as if there were no climate crisis.
The Volkswagen Group and its subsidiaries
sell more than 24,000 vehicles every day.
94% of the cars delivered have
a combustion engine.
More than 40% of the vehicles
sold are SUVs, off-road cars
with increased fuel consumption.
According to the group, every second
car sold by 2025 will be an SUV.
I don't know if you can talk
about what complaints you filed?
So after 2030, combustion engines
can no longer be sold at all.
At least for cars.
And even before that,
you can't simply continue selling
because then VW's greenhouse gas budget
will simply be used up.
And we just say: You are creating risk,
so you have to do what you can
to avoid the damage.
What the two demand:
The VW Group should exit the combustion
engine business much earlier
than planned
since VW knows how bad their business
is for the climate,
and because politicians aren't taking
enough action to combat climate crisis.
We aren't saying, "You have to stop
or downsize or fire all your employees."
We're just saying we have a problem.
Do you think you have
a role to play in this?
My head is spinning.
That all makes sense.
But can lawsuits like these really help
shed light on decades of machinations
in the fossil fuel industries
and help resolve them?
The lawsuit doesn't just refer to Germany.
It has global repercussions.
It affects VW Group and all subsidiaries.
This is shocking and this is
potentially hugely influential.
And I think that's why this corporation
is taking it seriously.
In the lawsuit, we also explain in detail
how long VW has actually known
what they are doing.
They've known
about climate change since the '70s.
The board has been aware of climate
change since the '80s.
Since when have they
not intentionally invested
in something like
the three-liter car or e-mobility.
Since the late '80s...
There are an infinite number of documents
that also prove it.
These were intentional decisions
by the management,
which at least today
are also completely illegal.
What is wrong
with those in the fossil industry
that they knowingly jeopardized
all of our futures for decades?
That's what I asked VW.
"The Volkswagen Group upholds
their responsibility to reduce
"CO2 emissions in their businesses
as quickly as possible.
"Volkswagen upholds climate protection
and rapid decarbonization
"of the transport sector,
but cannot meet this challenge alone.
"This transformation will only happen
with the necessary framework:
"through state regulation,
technologies, and consumer behavior.
"Volkswagen will play its part
and is already doing so today.
"Volkswagen has been dealing with
fuel consumption issues for decades.
"Our strategies and goals are designed
to ensure that the entire group
"is carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest,
including vehicles, plants, and processes.
"We are constantly adjusting goals
and increasing efforts accordingly."
Clara and her lawyer Roda
doubt that VW is moving fast enough.
It's important to see this lawsuit
only as a puzzle piece
in a larger turnaround in mobility.
If our federal government
doesn't do enough,
then people are forced to sue.
Suing global companies.
That sounds crazy.
But Clara Mayer is not alone.
-Hello, Joko.
-Hi, there, Joko.
Hey, Joko.
I'm Stanislav Skibinski.
Ulf Allhoff-Cramer.
I am Saul Luciano Lliuya.
I am suing a European company.
I'm suing for climate justice.
Climate crisis is affecting us in
Germany and worldwide.
If these glaciers melt,
we'll face major problems in agriculture.
We fight until justice prevails.
Greenpeace, Deutsche Umwelthilfe
have taken legal steps
against German corporations...
...to require climate protection.
It's only just starting.
If we started suing
every fossil company in the world today
to clean up the planet fast enough
before there's irreversible damage,
it would take too long.
A law professor told me so.
But we can even go one better.
PROF. DR. DR. FELIX EKARDT
ATTORNEY & SOCIOLOGIST
The biggest impact is achieved
if you sue the governments
of fossil-fuel intensive countries,
for example in Germany, or USA,
in Canada, Australia.
Suing entire countries?
Seriously.
Hi, Joko!
Hi! I am Linus.
And I sued the German government.
We climate seniors filed a lawsuit
against our Swiss Federal Council
in November 2016.
We are suing 33 European governments.
So they can act
and do something about climate change.
Since 2021, we have a new, better
climate protection law.
Climate lawsuits reveal something
that encourages me:
the will to overcome this powerlessness.
Not all of these lawsuits
will be successful.
They create something
that is incredibly valuable:
a public debate on the climate crisis.
And the certainty
that industry and even states
with empty promises do not always succeed.
This is especially true with greenwashing.
IN THE NEXT EPISODE...
Do we need such companies?
I can't build any
regional slaughterhouses.
Fuck you.
It is already happening.
Energy should be renewable.
We want to be the first
to rely fully on new energies.
At least everyone gets that now and acts.
Above all industry.
That's great.
Finding the way to safe
and intelligent energy.
Electricity means work.
Automotive electricity, 100% electric.
However, I get the strange feeling
that there is a difference
between talking and doing.
This is the way
to secure, affordable and intelligent...
I wanted to make a film
about greenwashing.
Greenwashing are green promises
made by companies.
Promises that make us feel
very good when shopping,
but which are nonsense...
because these promises are broken
or do not solve the actual problem at all.
Here in Kampala, Uganda,
I'm standing on one of the largest
garbage dumps in East Africa.
And I find tons of plastic
that should never have ended up here.
Here look.
Why do we recycle if it ends up here?
Look here. Recycling.
Recycling.
Recycling.
Recycling.
On my journey, I encountered
numerous industry practices
that are far more severe
than I could've ever imagined.
It's about lies and systematic prevention
of climate protection.
Oh my God.
Oh God, why is everyone so negative?
Sounds like a conspiracy thriller.
There are many documents
that also prove that.
It is one in some way.
My odyssey has made one thing clear to me.
We're dealing
with a powerful propaganda machine.
Nothing is like it seems.
And then I got attacked as well.
Hi, Joko.
The green leek.
Let's rewind.
For a greener, healthier life.
Breathe.
We do the rest.
We stand by it with our name.
"THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING."
IMAGE CHANGE THROUGH CLIMATE CHANGE?
My name is Joko Winterscheidt.
I'm in by far the neatest forest
I've ever set foot in.
No wonder.
Everything has been
artificially created since the '80s.
You'll never guess who did that.
They even advertise it.
At the energy company RWE,
sustainability is
firmly anchored in all areas.
An example of this is
the exemplary recultivation
that helps to increase biodiversity.
A recultivation?
Why do we need new landscapes here?
What was wrong with the old ones?
What happened here?
And who is the woman by my side anyway?
Kathrin Hartmann is
a greenwashing expert in Germany.
In books, interviews and lectures,
the journalist uncovers
the lies of the industry.
Greenwashing is the attempt
by companies and institutions
to pretend they are more sustainable.
We met to talk
about the phenomenon of greenwashing
in a seemingly perfect place for it.
An ideal symbol.
This thing here is what greenwashing is.
-This is greenwashing?
-Yes.
This atmospheric bit of nature which
is sold to us as a pastoral paradise
is in reality the dumping ground
of Europe's largest CO2 emitter.
We're standing
on over a billion cubic meters
of the stuff that's not needed
in the open-pit lignite mine next door.
-And we are standing on the heap, right?
-Exactly.
That's why greenwashing
is so dangerous in general
because the bad stuff is covered up.
The bad stuff
like the mining of coal goes on.
What is greenwashed about
the artificially created Sophienhöhe,
and why exactly is
this clean forest a huge illusion?
I get my answers a few kilometers on.
-I don't want to look at it just yet.
-Exactly.
There's a place we'll go to now
and I want wait for the exact moment
because I haven't seen it before.
You can stop here. Exactly.
Yes.
HAMBACH
NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, GERMANY
-Oh my God.
-Yes.
The biggest hole in Europe.
I can't believe it.
Whole towns have been demolished
for open-pit mines in the last decades!
The resulting holes
are up to 400 meters deep
and easily 6,000 football pitches in size.
Dug by the world's largest excavators.
Look, this is a pickup truck.
They're still digging for lignite here.
The most important energy source
of the last millennium
unfortunately got us in trouble
with its CO2 emissions.
-Oh God. That is insane.
-Yes.
Now you can imagine how the Sophienhöhe,
where we were before...
What a small part that would take up here.
The Hambach open-pit mine is three
times bigger than the Sophienhöhe.
It's still expanding and destroying
a century-old natural environment.
Even the best recultivation cannot fix
the damage caused.
But RWE explains it differently.
Recultivation in the Rhine mining area
is an integral part of lignite mining...
LARS KULIK
CEO LIGNITE MINING - RWE POWER
...and is progressing continuously
alongside it.
RWE responded to the greenwashing
allegations as follows:
We're recultivating so extensively
because mining is rightly obliged
to leave behind a landscape
that can be used in many ways
and leaves many options
for use by future generations.
Some areas of the man-made landscape
are already protected.
Local people value recultivation,
and it has an undisputed reputation
among professionals around the world.
Recultivation does not intend
to greenwash coal mining.
I'm trying to sort this out in my head.
Before this, it was like a lid.
-Yes, exactly.
-The thing was closed.
There were villages, fields, forest.
It's also really absurd that it has
now been set up as a tourist attraction.
This is seriously
the official viewing point
with a restaurant
and adventure playground.
There's even a small open-air gym.
Life during an apocalypse
is normalized here.
I have to look at that padlock.
-Normally they are...
-Oh God!
I can hardly imagine
a more romantic location.
"Daniel and Regina!"
There's another one.
"Olaf and Manuela."
Sorry, folks, the world is ending
before our eyes,
and here they invite you
to celebrate exactly that.
How about a bag of popcorn with that?
That's some cynicism. That's hard to top.
Here it says:
"With this ambitious project,
"RWE is committed to the goals
of the Paris Agreement."
This is the most climate-damaging type
of energy in existence.
They just keep it going.
Sure, when you look at it and read
"climate neutral by 2040,"
you'd think, "They're doing really well."
Then Kathrin changes the subject.
Suddenly, it's about me.
And this documentary.
Now that we're friends.
So about Amazon...
They are also among the companies
that cause quite a lot of climate damage
and emit CO2 into the air.
60 million tons a year.
That amount increased again just recently.
They aren't saviors of the world.
They are part of the problem.
I don't know if anyone can imagine
how hard and heavy the penny
dropped for me in that moment.
So are we also contributing
to greenwashing?
Harsh allegations against my client.
I'll definitely talk to them about it.
But at the moment,
I am just very confused.
Hi, Joko!
Old buddy!
You look green, honestly.
I heard you found
your ecological conscience again.
How cool, right.
Except I didn't know
you used to have one. Right?
Remember a few years ago
when you did those ads?
For this fast food chain...
What's the name? You know.
Producing these continent-sized amounts
of packaging waste, meat and CO2
and feeding millions of people
into obesity!
You even played a big burger for them.
Even if there was a real shitstorm, right?
What does it matter?
Cash waterproofs well!
The criticism just runs off down
the drain of your conscience.
The cruise ship thing
where they water-skied you along.
Hey, that was funny.
Sure. It was also a bit
of advertising for that kind of travel
where a single ship uses
as much oil in a day as 84,000 cars.
They use heavy fuel oil
which, by the way, is banned on land
because it contains 3,500 times
more sulfur than gasoline.
Come on, just bury it.
After all, you've evolved and changed.
You're like the new
sustainability superhero now.
The green leek.
Now you're making a climate documentary.
Not just for anyone,
but for Amazon Prime Video.
At Amazon.
The largest online retailer in the world.
The shopping paradise for pen-pushers.
Shop until you drop.
Delivered free of charge.
And send the shit back for free,
if you don't want it.
Amazon has made a firm promise
to become carbon neutral by 2040.
Yes! Scout's honor.
At Amazon, the emissions
have risen sharply since the announcement.
15% in a year, 19% thereafter.
Who cares. There's time.
They are totally serious.
Just don't rush it.
Sure! You'll sort it out.
Just don't switch on your brain
and give up.
Just close your eyes and carry on.
When the climate is saved,
you'll get a like and a smiley face
and an Amazon voucher.
How about that?
Thank you, Joko.
How can I continue
with a clear conscience?
It just doesn't make sense.
That's clear to me now.
I'll stop the documentary here.
I'm sorry.
And then I thought about stopping
the documentary
because... I don't want
to contribute to greenwashing.
Then I've done everything wrong.
I wanted to show people
grievances and solutions.
But if it's the opposite...
of what I actually wanted...
then I'd rather not do it.
Should I be ashamed
to do something like this?
I've already said I'm not a psychiatrist.
So if you really need therapy...
CHRISTIAN STÖCKER
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGIST
...find someone else.
I understand the problem.
I get it.
Anyone who deals with the topic
long enough gets to this point.
Would you like to do something about it?
-I thought I was doing it.
-Yes.
I look at the world
that I believe needs to be shown
for better or for worse
because we have to change it.
-Otherwise, nothing will happen.
-The alternative is to do nothing.
-Yes. That's no alternative.
-Exactly.
Once you realize how big the problem is,
doing nothing is not an option.
Should I even make such a documentary?
I'm not a saint myself.
I mean, I fly.
I don't have the smallest CO2 footprint.
It feels a little wrong to do it.
A carbon footprint is the impact we create
by simply living our lives.
These are the emissions
caused by our lifestyle.
It doesn't matter
if you're a saint or not.
I'll give you an example.
Two alcoholics are chatting.
One says to the other,
"You drink too much."
The other says, "You of all people
can't say that."
Is the first right or not?
-Sure, he is right.
-He is? Yes.
If the alcoholic tells the other one,
"You drink too much,"
he's still right.
That means, even if you were to eat
eight beef steaks a day
and travel all your journeys by plane,
which I would advise against,
for your health...
If you then said,
"Climate change is a huge problem
and we need to do something,"
you'd still be right.
For a tiny moment, I'm relieved.
Completely unjustified.
Because Christian has information
that hasn't let me sleep
peacefully to this day.
No matter how much you eat meat-free,
that does not shut down
a single coal power plant.
By changing our individual behavior
we might be doing ourselves a favor
or maybe we'll help the markets
change and there are other products,
but it'll never
be enough to solve the problem.
So the fundamental systemic changes
that need to take place
will not be brought about
by individual behavioral change.
And, it must be said.
The reference to individual behavior,
the carbon footprint,
is a propaganda tool of the oil industry.
Who came up with it?
BP!
There were ads on the subject.
All the CO2 calculators...
I don't want to be offensive
but it sounds like a conspiracy theory.
You can ask someone who knows about it.
You'll see.
It's a fact.
This campaign actually exists.
No joke.
What have I gotten myself into here?
I'm traveling to the US
to meet up with a woman
who was a PR consultant in this industry.
She left because she no longer
wanted to support
the fossil fuel industry.
She's now working
against their greenwashing strategies,
and she knows more than she can say.
We'll meet at a conspiratorial place
near San Francisco.
What is more conspiratorial
than a nature reserve outside town
right next to an oil refinery?
Christine Arena knows
the tricks of the fossil industry.
She used to be communications expert
at one of the world's largest PR agencies
with clients in the oil, alcohol
and auto industries.
There she helped
to promote eco and social issues
and learned details
that made her leave the company.
Today, she uses insider knowledge
to publicly criticize and accuse,
and thus uncover
the machinations of the corporations.
That sounds
like a crazy conspiracy theory.
The fossil fuel industry knew about it?
And they deliberately developed strategies
to prevent effective climate protection?
For decades?
Is there even evidence for that?
I'll be damned.
Oh God, why is everyone so negative?
You have to acknowledge
that some nice stuff came out of it.
From the whole campaign.
True works of art.
And if you think that the fossil energy
companies can only do greenwashing...
Not at all! Those in the know
speak of different phases.
Come with me.
I'll show you a couple of great specimens.
All real contemporary documents.
The four phases of effective
climate protection prevention.
Phase one: Distorting facts.
The industry has always known.
Now take a look at this beautiful ad.
"Every day we generate enough energy
"to melt seven million tons
of glacial ice."
Claimed a highly successful fossil company
called Humble
in its advertisement 60 years ago.
In 1962, of course, the industry already
knew what CO2 was doing.
And in case you never heard of Humble,
today they call themselves ExxonMobil.
They knew from the start
what damage was being done
and openly advertised it.
You can't say
that they lied about the glacier.
The opposite.
On the other hand,
just because a small glacier melts
doesn't necessarily mean global warming.
Phase two: Sow doubt.
What climate change?
Let's jump 30 years into the future.
Here we have a particularly
beautiful piece from 1991.
Man-made global warming?
That's just one theory among many.
That's so ingenious and so simple.
As a company, you don't say
something like that directly.
No, we get scientists
and let them say that.
As a man of science, I can tell you
that the evidence is too weak,
the models too imprecise.
Anyway nothing
has been proven yet, right?
Sounds exaggerated and made up?
For naive ears maybe.
But it's all really true.
Phase three: Create fear.
But our prosperity...
For some, the next piece
is just a strategy paper.
To me it is a masterpiece
to create uncertainty.
Once doubts about a climate catastrophe
are the talk of the town.
Bingo!
The facts shouldn't count,
but the doubts about the facts should.
And what is stronger than doubt?
Fear.
Fear.
All these climate protection
measures are expensive
and endanger our prosperity.
Create fear. That always works.
But now it's not that easy
to brush climate change aside.
What can you do now?
Of course you offer help.
Phase four: We are the solution.
The polluters as knights in shining armor.
We flood the market with phrases
that sound good and convey security.
Everyone should know:
We are part of the solution.
"Energy reinvents itself."
"Sustainability is the basis
of our strategy."
"We want to help the world
to become carbon neutral."
Yes, these are all great messages.
The industry is now helping
to clean up the mess it caused.
And in the end, only one thing counts.
Joko!
Let me tell you one thing.
It will continue to go on like this.
The industry will continue
to win every battle in the future...
simply because they have this.
We got the money, money, money
Whenever you want to talk
about climate change, Joko, anytime.
The more I dig,
the more I know and the shittier it gets.
I don't see light
at the end of the tunnel,
and I have the feeling...
that what I'm doing is totally in vain.
Because industry and business
have simply stopped anything
that would bring
positive change for decades.
There's no point doing this.
Well, we are dealing
with a very powerful propaganda machine
that has been
in operation for many, many years.
And why are we accepting this?
All the psychology is working
against bringing about this change.
Unfortunately.
The central concept is
cognitive dissonance.
It's a mental conflict that occurs
when your beliefs don't align
with your actions.
That creates an uncomfortable feeling.
It's uncomfortable for people to be told
that what you thought was good
for the last 30 years is now bad.
It makes people aggressive.
There are two methods that are used.
It's a process that runs automatically.
Consonant information is enhanced,
so your thoughts match your actions.
Every smoker knows a smoker
who lived to be 90.
All smokers also know
that you can die of lung cancer.
But the smoker who turned 90
is a fond memory.
Conversely, bearers
of dissonant information
are devalued.
That's what's happening.
People feel better
about themselves talking bad
about Greta Thunberg since what
Greta Thunberg says is so uncomfortable.
Why are we behaving so irrationally?
There are still smokers, right?
They all know it's not healthy.
They do it anyway.
As societies,
we have just become addicted.
We are now addicted to fossil fuels.
Oh God.
It's a huge problem
that lies have been told for so long
with so much money and so much effort.
So in my opinion...
telling people shit in such a major way
should not be allowed.
It can't be
that there are no consequences.
Well, let's put it this way.
One day, I predict...
the behavior of the fossil fuel
corporations will be considered criminal.
And by the way, there are already people
who take legal action, even successfully.
This is a constitutional state.
You can also sue.
I am Clara Mayer.
I have fought for climate justice
with Fridays for Future for three years.
Now I'm suing Volkswagen,
second largest car maker in the world,
to finally put a stop
to this climate-damaging company.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS SUE VOLKSWAGEN.
18-YEAR OLD READS THE RIOT ACT TO VW BOSS
Companies like VW risk our future
and climate safety.
I'm here to tell you...
VW GENERAL ASSEMBLY
...that what you're doing isn't enough.
My name is Dr. Roda Verheyen
and I am a lawyer.
I've been suing RWE AG since 2015.
You remember?
Those are the ones
with the biggest hole in Europe.
Oh my God.
I have also filed a complaint
with the European Union
about insufficient
climate protection targets.
I represented the constitutional
complaint by young adults
against the climate protection law.
We won this constitutional complaint.
It is the result of decades of work.
What we demand is achievable and feasible.
But it's not the end. On the contrary.
Climate lawsuits are crucial
to get climate protection.
With Clara Mayer
and the managing directors of Greenpeace,
we are suing VW AG.
Excuse me,
you two, could I talk to you both, please?
Come in.
I'm meeting
with climate activist Clara Mayer
and her attorney Roda Verheyen
to see if such a lawsuit
can really be the solution.
I was so frustrated that I wanted to quit.
I thought this project isn't productive.
I found it all the more fascinating
when I saw your story
about suing a corporation
as a private person.
Then maybe there is still hope.
In the end, it's a scandal
that a 20-year-old girl has to sue here.
We have a constitutionally confirmed right
to climate protection.
And Volkswagen, as the world's
second-largest car manufacturers,
continues to produce
as if there were no climate crisis.
The Volkswagen Group and its subsidiaries
sell more than 24,000 vehicles every day.
94% of the cars delivered have
a combustion engine.
More than 40% of the vehicles
sold are SUVs, off-road cars
with increased fuel consumption.
According to the group, every second
car sold by 2025 will be an SUV.
I don't know if you can talk
about what complaints you filed?
So after 2030, combustion engines
can no longer be sold at all.
At least for cars.
And even before that,
you can't simply continue selling
because then VW's greenhouse gas budget
will simply be used up.
And we just say: You are creating risk,
so you have to do what you can
to avoid the damage.
What the two demand:
The VW Group should exit the combustion
engine business much earlier
than planned
since VW knows how bad their business
is for the climate,
and because politicians aren't taking
enough action to combat climate crisis.
We aren't saying, "You have to stop
or downsize or fire all your employees."
We're just saying we have a problem.
Do you think you have
a role to play in this?
My head is spinning.
That all makes sense.
But can lawsuits like these really help
shed light on decades of machinations
in the fossil fuel industries
and help resolve them?
The lawsuit doesn't just refer to Germany.
It has global repercussions.
It affects VW Group and all subsidiaries.
This is shocking and this is
potentially hugely influential.
And I think that's why this corporation
is taking it seriously.
In the lawsuit, we also explain in detail
how long VW has actually known
what they are doing.
They've known
about climate change since the '70s.
The board has been aware of climate
change since the '80s.
Since when have they
not intentionally invested
in something like
the three-liter car or e-mobility.
Since the late '80s...
There are an infinite number of documents
that also prove it.
These were intentional decisions
by the management,
which at least today
are also completely illegal.
What is wrong
with those in the fossil industry
that they knowingly jeopardized
all of our futures for decades?
That's what I asked VW.
"The Volkswagen Group upholds
their responsibility to reduce
"CO2 emissions in their businesses
as quickly as possible.
"Volkswagen upholds climate protection
and rapid decarbonization
"of the transport sector,
but cannot meet this challenge alone.
"This transformation will only happen
with the necessary framework:
"through state regulation,
technologies, and consumer behavior.
"Volkswagen will play its part
and is already doing so today.
"Volkswagen has been dealing with
fuel consumption issues for decades.
"Our strategies and goals are designed
to ensure that the entire group
"is carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest,
including vehicles, plants, and processes.
"We are constantly adjusting goals
and increasing efforts accordingly."
Clara and her lawyer Roda
doubt that VW is moving fast enough.
It's important to see this lawsuit
only as a puzzle piece
in a larger turnaround in mobility.
If our federal government
doesn't do enough,
then people are forced to sue.
Suing global companies.
That sounds crazy.
But Clara Mayer is not alone.
-Hello, Joko.
-Hi, there, Joko.
Hey, Joko.
I'm Stanislav Skibinski.
Ulf Allhoff-Cramer.
I am Saul Luciano Lliuya.
I am suing a European company.
I'm suing for climate justice.
Climate crisis is affecting us in
Germany and worldwide.
If these glaciers melt,
we'll face major problems in agriculture.
We fight until justice prevails.
Greenpeace, Deutsche Umwelthilfe
have taken legal steps
against German corporations...
...to require climate protection.
It's only just starting.
If we started suing
every fossil company in the world today
to clean up the planet fast enough
before there's irreversible damage,
it would take too long.
A law professor told me so.
But we can even go one better.
PROF. DR. DR. FELIX EKARDT
ATTORNEY & SOCIOLOGIST
The biggest impact is achieved
if you sue the governments
of fossil-fuel intensive countries,
for example in Germany, or USA,
in Canada, Australia.
Suing entire countries?
Seriously.
Hi, Joko!
Hi! I am Linus.
And I sued the German government.
We climate seniors filed a lawsuit
against our Swiss Federal Council
in November 2016.
We are suing 33 European governments.
So they can act
and do something about climate change.
Since 2021, we have a new, better
climate protection law.
Climate lawsuits reveal something
that encourages me:
the will to overcome this powerlessness.
Not all of these lawsuits
will be successful.
They create something
that is incredibly valuable:
a public debate on the climate crisis.
And the certainty
that industry and even states
with empty promises do not always succeed.
This is especially true with greenwashing.
IN THE NEXT EPISODE...
Do we need such companies?
I can't build any
regional slaughterhouses.
Fuck you.