05 February 2023, North Rhine-Westphalia, Erkelenz: The church of Keyenberg stands barely 500m from the RWE lignite open pit Garzweiler (photo taken with a drone). The end of lignite mining, which has been brought forward to 2030, will leave five villages between the city center of Erkelenz and the Garzweiler open pit mine. From the villages in question, 90 percent of the original inhabitants have already moved away, and most of the houses are empty. Most of them belong to the energy company RWE. Of the original 1500 residents, 200 remain. In addition, there are currently 300 refugees from Ukraine living in houses. Today, a village walk by the Protestant church, climate movement and agriculture is taking place near the lignite mining site. Photo: David Young/dpa