Without even the merest hint of irony, eight environment activists today chained themselves to Munich’s Neues Rathaus on Monday, and demanded something the city does something it’s already promised it will do. Confused? You should be.

In 2017, a majority of Munich citizens voted in favour to shut down the city’s coal-fired power station by 2022. But it appears that the city is looking to renege on its promise and tomorrow the city council’s economics committee is to discuss the matter. According to the SZ, the loophole is that the vote was only binding for one year’, which seems weak in the extreme, and clearly Munich citizens have been taken for a proverbial ride.

The CSU’s Clemens Baumgärtner is reported as wanting the plant to run longer than 2022 but on reduced capacity, reports the SZ. ‘In addition, the Federal Network Agency would prohibit switching off the plant.’ Environmental protection groups refute this, saying ‘the combined heat and power plant could be placed in cold reserve,” according to the SZ report.

Extinction Rebellion insist that the vote be adhered to and demand closure of the coal-fired power station by the promised 2022.

London

Over in London, the Guardian and other media have spent the day reporting on how Extinction Rebellion in the UK have carried out protests in five of the country’s cities: London, Cardiff, Leeds, Bristol and Glasgow, all under a different protest banner, from rising sea levels to extreme weather.

A few years ago, such protests might have been viewed from the outside as long-term battles. Munich and UK activists are trying to get their local populations to understand that climate change is here and having a colossal impact now. And that’s why, say activists, Munich’s coal-fired power station needs to close by the latest 2022. Just as was promised back in 2017. Still confused?