15
November 2008 - Rotterdam, Netherlands —
Supported by the Rainbow Warrior, a hundred
of our volunteer activists occupied the
construction site of the new E.ON coal fired
power plant in Rotterdam. They halted construction
for 10 hours before they were all arrested
by police. Special police cut their chains
and neck locks and removed everyone from
the site by the end of the day.
E.ON is ignoring all
science around climate change by insisting
on plans to construct eight new European
coal fired power plants. The plant in Rotterdam
is intended to be the first, even though
it has not yet been granted the necessary
permits. The previous evening the activists
put up tents, next to the building site,
to bear witness to the unfolding climate
disaster. Then at first light they moved
onto the site, paralysing the construction
of the plant.
"Civil disobedience,
like occupying a building site, is completely
justified when compared to the impact on
the climate of a new coal plant. The consequences
for the climate from this coal plant would
be so dramatic, that urgent action is needed
now.”, said Meike Baretta, Head of Climate
and Energy campaign Greenpeace Netherlands.
Coal, the most polluting
of all fossil fuels, is responsible for
a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Coal-fired power stations undermine European
targets to cut emissions by 30 percent by
2020. E-ON has so far remained silent, despite
Greenpeace’s request that it commits to
reducing its CO2 emissions.
Resistance is justified
Support for radical
action is growing. A British Crown Court
jury acquitted six Greenpeace activists
on charges of criminal damage after they
scaled the chimney of E.ONs coal plant in
Kingsnorth. The jury decided that shutting
down the coal plant was justified in the
context of the damage to property caused
around the world by CO2 emissions from Kingsnorth.
NASA’s top climate scientist, James Hansen,
spoke in their defence and former Vice-President
of the United States Al Gore has urged civil
disobedience to stop the construction of
new coal fired power plants.
This is not the first
time Greenpeace has clashed with E.ON in
the last month we have
Led a flotilla against
Kingsnorth
Occupied the site of a proposed coal fired
plant in Antwerp
Halted the loading of an E.ON owned coal
plant in Sardinia
Taking on coal right around the globe
The actions in Rotterdam
are part of Greenpeace's global Quit Coal
Campaign. The Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow
Warrior, is engaged in a ten-month "Quit
Coal" expedition, which started in
March in New Zealand and is currently in
Europe. Further a Climate Rescue Station
has been established on the edge of a vast
coal mine in Poland, in the run-up to crucial
UN climate negotiations in Poznan, Poland,
this December.
As the European campaign
against coal unfolds we've had good news
from the United States. A ruling of the
US Environmental Protection Agency’s Board
of Appeals that any new coal fired power
plant must include the best available technology
to restrict CO2 emissions: creating a legal
limbo which is in effect a moratorium on
new coal power in the United States. That's
between 30 and 100 coal fired power plants
which won't be able to start operations
till the issue is resolved, and an opportunity
for the new US government to Quit Coal on
day one by imposing tough emission standards.
Quitting coal is essential
to a meaningful deal to save the climate.
European governments must show leadership
by phasing-out coal in their own countries.
Greenpeace's Energy [R]evolution shows how
renewable energy, combined with greater
energy efficiency, can cut global CO2 emissions
by 50 percent and deliver half the world's
energy needs by 2050.
+ More
Greenpeace opens African
Office
Focusing on climate
change, deforestation and overfishing -
14 November 2008 - Johannesburg, South Africa
— Greenpeace Africa has opened its first
office in Johannesburg, announcing a long-term
commitment to building a strong presence
in Africa dedicated to tackling the most
urgent environmental problems facing the
continent - climate change, deforestation
and overfishing.
A second office will
be opened on 24 November in Kinshasa, Democratic
Republic of Congo followed by a third in
Dakar, Senegal, next year. These areas are
central to tackling climate change, deforestation
and overfishing.
While the environmental
threats facing Africans are urgent and critical,
Africa is in a position to leapfrog dirty
development and become a leader in helping
to avert catastrophic climate change and
protect the natural environment. While Africa
contributes very little to global warming,
the region will be one of the hardest hit
by its effects. Over 180 million people
in sub-Saharan Africa could die as a result
of climate change by the end of the century.
Unpredictable rainfall, lower crop yields
and dwindling resources are causing mass
migration, increased tension and conflict.
The launch comes just
weeks ahead of the United Nations climate
change talks in Poznan, Poland (1-13 December)
where agreements will be made to set the
world on a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions
and prevent human induced climate change.
South Africa needs to take a strong stand
at the UN climate talks for a deal that
includes substantial funding from the industrialised
world for developing countries to adapt
to and mitigate the devastating effects
of climate change. The South African government
should also support Central African countries
by backing moves to create a funding mechanism
that makes protecting tropical forests and
the climate more economical than logging.
Tropical forest destruction accounts for
about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas
emissions.
Climate change
South Africa, the 14th highest carbon emitter
in the world, must commit to measurable
actions to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions,
including ending its dependence on coal,
without resorting to expansions in nuclear
power. The country, as with Africa as a
whole, is in a position to harness abundant
renewable energy sources - solar, wind and
biomass - and take a lead in an African
energy revolution. An energy revolution
that would not only help reduce climate
changes but would bring electricity to rural
areas, which is crucial for rural development,
provide jobs and economic growth.
Protecting the rainforest
Industrial logging threatens the Congo Basin
rainforest and the 40 million people who
depend on it for their livelihoods. It plays
a vital role in regulating the global climate
and is the fourth largest forest carbon
reservoir in the world. Yet if logging is
allowed to continue at the projected rate,
the DRC risks losing 40 percent of its forest
within 40 years. Greenpeace is calling for
the adoption of an international financing
mechanism, Forests for Climate, that makes
the Congo Basin rainforest and others like
it, more economically valuable intact than
as timber.
Defending the oceans
Off the coast of West Africa marine life
is being carried away by foreign trawlers:
devastating local communities and depriving
them of critical nutrition; causing poverty
and food insecurity to increase. Illegal,
unreported and unregulated fishing must
stop. Greenpeace will work for sustainable
fishing and fish processing operations,
managed and financed by Africans, as well
as increased monitoring and control. The
area needs a network of well enforced marine
reserves.
Tackling environmental
problems in Africa is vital to ensuring
a future for its children and the world
as a whole. While it is most likely to be
one of the hardest and quickest hit by the
effects of climate change, some of which
can already be seen, Africa is also a major
part of the solution. Through harnessing
its renewable energy potential and protecing
its tropical forests Africa can lead the
way in environmental development.
