Light
bulbs deal a bit dimmer - 10 December 2008
- brussels, Belgium — As EU politicians
reach a good agreement on renewable energy
targets, Greenpeace declares the deal to
be a ray of light amid the gloomy stone-age
positions of EU member states on other elements
of the package.
Finally, some good news
has come out of the EU’s climate and energy
package. The result is a pay off for three
years of campaigning for an Energy [R]evolution
in Europe. With your help we’ve researched
and published reports, lobbied MEPs, heads
of state, commissioners and energy firms
around Europe, and undertaken dozens of
actions. Our campaigns for Europe to quit
coal, say no to nuclear power and yes to
an Energy [R]evolution have reached millions
and the message is finally starting to be
heard.
What has been agreed
for the renewables law?
Binding national targets
for each of the EU’s 27 member states mean
that the EU’s 20 percent target for energy
produced from renewable technologies such
as wind and solar by 2020 can now become
a reality.
The directive agreed
today will ensure better support for the
use of renewable energy in electricity,
heating and cooling, and transport. It gives
EU member states the option of cooperating
with each other to achieve their targets,
and it also includes provisions make it
easier for renewable technologies to be
connected to energy networks faster.
Frauke Thies, our EU
renewables policy campaigner, says: “We
give the EU 8 out of 10 for its renewables
deal. This agreement is a new dawn for a
clean energy future that will benefit both
the climate and the economy.”
Unsustainable biofuels
are still on the agenda
Unfortunately, the directive still encourages
widespread use of biofuels, which in particular
. allows car manufacturers a get-out clause
for reducing their emissions. While on the
surface making fuels from plants to cut
carbon emissions sounds perfect, there is
mounting evidence that many biofuels might
actually be worse for the climate than fossil
fuels.
Lightbulb legislation
is dimmer than renewables
Meanwhile, another part of the EU’s climate
efforts are meant to address efficiency
standards. Greater energy efficiency is
half of the solution in the fight against
climate change. As part of our energy efficiency
campaign, we have been calling on the EU
to introduce minimum efficiency standards
for lightbulbs. Incandescent bulbs waste
an incredible 97 percent of the energy they
consume. Yet, energy-saving lightbulbs that
use five times less energy and last for
up to ten times longer than inefficient
bulbs have existed for years.
It seems that the EU
partly shares our view, but not nearly enough
of it. It has voted to ensure that incandescents
are off the market by 2012 – something to
celebrate indeed. But - and this is crucial
- it is allowing halogen lights - only 25
percent less inefficient than incandescents
- to remain on the European market until
2016.
The EU has chosen to
make only half of the potential energy savings
it could have done, had it also banned inefficient
halogen lights. That’s the equivalent to
the energy savings of the annual electricity
consumption of 11 million households that
has been simply thrown away.
This is not good enough!
Global greenhouse gas emissions must peak
by 2015, and then fall dramatically. Reducing
the contribution of the lighting sector
towards greenhouse gas emissions means outlawing
all inefficient products on the market.
Renewables agreement
- a sunny spell before heavy showers?
Inefficient light bulbs
are not the worst of it. European governments
are busy undermining other parts of the
EU’s climate effort. Proposals that industries
like power generation and steel making be
given for free credits which should be auctioned
risks turning 'the polluter pays' into 'pay
the polluter'.
As Thies concludes: “Some EU politicians
have shown with the deal on renewables that
they are indeed capable of offering a clean
and sustainable energy supply. But this
agreement could be just a sunny spell before
heavy showers, as European leaders create
loophole after loophole in other parts of
the EU’s package of laws to tackle climate
change.”
Europe needs an Energy
[R]evolution
Greenpeace’s European
Energy [R]evolution shows that development
of renewable technologies and improvements
in energy efficiency across Europe could
lead to some €500 billion in fuel cost savings
until 2020. The blueprint for a clean energy
future shows how the EU can reduce its carbon
footprint through phasing out nuclear power
and coal, and instead investing in clean
energy.
+ More
Arrest us. We're the
Tokyo 2.9 Million
09 December 2008 - Tokyo,
Japan — Representatives of millions of Greenpeace
supporters from around the world arrived
at the doorstep of the Japanese Prime Minister
in Tokyo today to demand an end to the political
persecution of two Greenpeace anti-whaling
activists, and an end to Japan's whaling
in the Southern Ocean. Embassy actions are
scheduled around the world today and tomorrow.
The co-defendants include
the chief whale-defenders (officially, Executive
Directors) of Greenpeace offices from Japan,
Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland,
Brazil, USA and the Nordic countries, as
well as Australian ex-whaling captain Paddy
Hart.
Condemned by Amnesty
International
Marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the group declared
themselves 'co-defendants' in the trial
of Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki. The two
Greenpeace activists exposed corruption
in the taxpayer-funded whaling industry,
but were themselves arrested in a crackdown
on Greenpeace itself in Tokyo.
A quarter of a million
Greenpeace supporters wrote to the Prime
Minister to demand their release. The arrest
was denounced by Amnesty International,
and fits a pattern of repression of the
rights of free speech in Japan which has
been condemned by the United Nations.
The group challenged
the Prime Minister to set Junichi and Toru
free, and end the corrupt whaling programme,
or order their own arrest for daring to
oppose the whaling programme. 30,000 people
have also signed petitions declaring themselves
complicit in Junichi and Toru's actions,
and stated that if defending whales is a
crime, they too are guilty.
Whaling on trial
"We want Prime Minister Aso to know
that if Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki are
to be tried for exposing whale meat embezzlement
and working to end the killing of whales
in the Japanese Government's 'research'
programme in the Southern Ocean, then we
should all be arrested," said Jun Hoshikawa,
Executive Director of Greenpeace Japan.
"It's not Greenpeace activists who
should be put on trial; it is the government-backed
whaling programme in the Southern Ocean
Whale Sanctuary."
Following a Greenpeace
undercover investigation in May 2008 that
exposed the embezzlement of whale meat from
the taxpayer-funded whaling fleet, Japanese
authorities responded with a politically-motivated
prosecution, arresting Junichi Sato and
Toru uzuki and raiding the Greenpeace Japan
office in June 2008. They have now been
awaiting trial for 172 days under bail conditions
which prevent hem from continuing their
Greenpeace campaign work to end whaling.
The trial is expected
to begin early next year; they are both
facing up to 10 years imprisonment.
Meanwhile, events will
be happening throughout today and tomorrow
at Japanese embassies in Brazil, USA, New
Zealand, Argentina, France, Norway, Finland,
Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico,
Spain, Greece, Canada, Italy and on Bondi
Beach in Sydney, Australia, activists declared
themselves as 'co-defendants', by asking
the Japanese government to "Arrest
Me Too" and to put "Whaling on
Trial".
Proof of life after
whaling
Australian ex-whaling
captain Paddy Hart, in Tokyo to support
the Tokyo Two and the campaign to end Japan's
whaling, was a master and gunner at the
Cheynes Beach Whaling Station in Western
Australia until it ceased operation in 1978
- following Greenpeace protests.
"I'm here to assure
whalers that there is life after whaling.
Japan's whaling programme is a taxpayer-funded
government enterprise, so when it finally
ends, it's the responsibility of the Japanese
government and the Fisheries Agency to retrain
the crews for other, sustainable, work."
"In Australia alone, 300 million Australian
dollars are made every year from whalewatching
- hundreds of times more than was ever made
by the whaling industry", said Hart.
"I am proud of my time at sea, but
it was 30 years ago. Times have changed,
and the world has moved on - whaling no
longer has a place in the world."
