19
February 2009 - International — In advance
of Hillary Clinton's arrival in Beijing,
we have delivered an open letter, together
with a giant hourglass, calling for immediate
cooperation and leadership between the US
and China to stop global warming.
The hourglass, inscribed
with the words “time is running out”, refers
to the time left to take effective action.
Together, the Obama
administration and China have an historic
opportunity to act on both the most serious
economic crisis in decades and the greatest
threat that humanity has ever faced - the
looming climate disaster.
"The summer
melting of the Arctic, more severe hurricanes,
increasing drought, wildfires and heatwaves;
these impacts are all signs of an increasingly
chaotic climate system that will undermine
the economic and development goals of all
nations.
Time is running out.
Dr James Hansen, a leading climatologist
from NASA, recently stated that the world
is now in “imminent peril”. The window for
avoiding that peril is narrow, and closing
rapidly, but it is not yet closed. With
the right leadership, we can bring global
greenhouse gas emissions under control,
set them on a downward trajectory, and avoid
the most catastrophic impacts of climate
change."
-- Extract from our
open letter to Hillary Clinton and Yang
Jiechi For all the ways in which the US
and China are different there is one thing
they share - the immediate need to stop
climate change. China and the US are the
world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters.
Commitments from both nations may differ
but the urgency of the task facing us means
every nation must play its part.
Our letter, addressed
to both the US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and the Chinese Foreign Minister
Yang Jiechi, states: ”The current economic
crisis provides an unprecedented opportunity
to make investments in a way that creates
jobs, rebuilds critical infrastructure and
lays the foundation for a new energy economy
in both nations."
The US and China need
to show leadership for strong climate action,
ensuring a sustainable energy future and
economic security. By the end of this year,
governments must agree to rapidly accelerate
action on climate change. A negotiation
process will begin soon and concludes at
the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen this
December.
It's not too late -
yet
We are calling on Presidents
Barack Obama and Hu Jintao, when they meet
ahead of April's G20 meeting in London,
to issue a joint statement on the need for
global action and their commitment to ensure
an effective plan is agreed. We have also
asked them to attend the Copenhagen meeting
in person and hope they will call on the
rest of world to join them in their efforts
- before it's too late.
While there have already
been encouraging signs of cooperation between
the two countries on renewable energy and
energy efficiency, we want to make it absolutely
clear that leadership is essential and time
is quickly running out. The creation of
a new development model that meets energy,
moves both nations away from coal, and generates
millions of green jobs without sacrificing
human health or the environment is not only
possible - it is absolutely vital. Also
needed is an equitable financial mechanism
encouraging greener development not only
in China but also throughout Southern Nations.
Urgency underlined in
Indonesia
Hillary Clinton also
received a similar letter from our Southeast
Asia office while she was visiting Indonesia
recently. The letter, addressed to her and
President Yudhoyono, was delivered to the
US Embassy and the Presidential Palace in
Jakarta. Our activists held a rally outside
as a meeting took place between the two
leaders.
We called on Clinton
to use her visit to take action against
climate change. Developed countries like
the US must provide funds to countries like
Indonesia in order for them to tackle global
warming by preserving forests and reducing
greenhouse emissions.
This image of rainforest
being burned for a palm oil plantation in
Indonesia was also given to Secretary Clinton.
Hoping Obama will say
"No we won't" for a change
Meanwhile in Canada,
President Obama was extended a warm Canadian
welcome when activists unveiled two large
banners on the Alexandra Bridge in Ottawa
that read “Welcome President Obama” and
“Climate Leaders Don’t Buy Tar Sands”.
Greenpeace Canada is
urging that he puts climate change and energy
issues at the top of his agenda during the
visit. We hope the new US president will
tell Prime Minister Harper that the dirtiest
oil on the planet does not fit with his
plan for a green economy.
While campaigning in
2008, Obama described oil as “a 19th century
fossil fuel that is dirty, dwindling, and
dangerously expensive.” If President Obama
supports low-carbon fuel standards in the
US he would discourage the importing of
oil from tar sands. Canada is now the biggest
supplier of oil to the United States.
+ More
VICTORY! Philips accepts
recycling responsibility
26 February 2009 - International
— We are delighted that Philips has announced
a change in its recycling policy, taking
responsibility for the cost of recycling
its own products. Earlier this week Philips
confirmed that these costs should no longer
be paid directly by its customers through
an additional fixed fee but instead come
closer to being part of the overall product
price.
Philips had been the
biggest obstacle in the electronics industry
to tackling the growing problem of e-waste.
And we have been calling on them since 2007
to stop actively opposing laws that would
oblige electronics producers to accept financial
responsibility for the recycling of their
own products.
After several actions
and 47,000 messages from our supporters,
the company has finally agreed to our demands.
This is a big step forward, and makes Philips
a new green leader in the electronics sector.
This is not only good
news for consumers but also for the environment
- because recycling costs are influenced
by the amount of toxic chemicals present
in products and how easy it is to recycle
them. Producers like Philips now have the
added incentive to develop cleaner, more
recyclable products that will reduce recycling
costs now that they are paying for the collection
and recycling of their own products. Producer
responsibility is crucial to the greener
development of the electronics industry.
Taking it back
Philips is also creating
take-back systems for its waste within some
countries where legislation does not currently
oblige it to do so. It intends to set up
a global take-back system, but still has
to commit to an implementation timeframe.
Philips’ commitment
to a financially sensible recycling policy,
together with the simple step of taking
back its obsolete products and recycling
them properly everywhere, is likely to substantially
improve its ranking in our next Guide to
Greener Electronics.
Better for the climate
The electronics giant has also made commitments
to make substantial cuts in its own greenhouse
gas emissions and support a 30 percent emissions
reduction for industrial nations by 2020.
The latest edition of
our Green Electronics Guide had shown Philips
to be one of the leaders on energy, but
still scoring abysmally on e-waste. Thanks
to the public pressure mounted on the company
over the last couple of years, with this
week's announcement Philips now becomes
one of the leaders in this field.
We are happy to now
be able to hold Philips up as an example
of how electronics companies can be truly
green across the board. We now want to see
Philips maintain a leading role by helping
to ensure future legislation on e-waste
continues to ensure Individual Producer
Responsibility and fully integrate environmental
costs into product prices.
Follow the leader
We will be pressuring
other companies to follow Philips’ lead,
and embrace producer responsibility. Electronics
waste is often dumped in landfills or burned
in smelters. Some is exported, often illegally,
from the Europe, US, Japan and other industrialised
countries, to Asia or Africa. Only last
week, we exposed the illegal export of e-waste
from Western countries to Africa. There,
workers at scrap yards, some of whom are
children, are exposed to a cocktail of toxic
chemicals and poisons.
