10 December 2009 - Oslo,
Norway — President Obama received the Nobel
Peace Prize in Norway's capital today. In
his own words, this is a "call to action"
rather than a recognition of his own accomplishments.
So we're hoping he'll act on his promises
to confront the
global challenges of the 21st century. We're
hoping he will confront the greatest one
in history - climate change. Our activists
are greeting him in Oslo and urging him
to show strong leadership when he attends
the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen next
week.
As Obama's plane landed
in Oslo, he was greeted by a massive Greenpeace
banner next to the runway that read “Our
climate, your decision.” As he traveled
through the Norwegian capital to City Hall,
where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was
held, our activists urged him to earn his
Nobel Peace Prize by leading the world to
a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate
treaty in Copenhagen.
Calls to action
Several messages were
waiting for the new Nobel Laureate throughout
Oslo: reverse graffiti (made by pressure-washing
stencils) reading “You won it, now earn
it,” “Change the Politics,” and “Stop Climate
Change” on public structures; an earth-shaped
hot air balloon bearing the slogan “Save
the Climate;” a “Next Stop: Copenhagen”
banner hanging from the Rainbow Warrior
(our ship in Oslo’s harbour); and a projection
on the City Hall itself reminding the President
that it’s up to him to save the climate.
Climate and conflict
While we welcome and encourge the President's
commitment to working for a world free of
nuclear weapons, we call on him to to not
only address the weapons of war, but tackle
the causes of conflict. Unchecked climate
change will herald a new era of resource
wars, as fresh water, food production and
habitable land all become scarcer.
Averting catastrophic
climate change is about many things, it
is about justice, it is about equity and
it is about opportunity. But, perhaps today
of all days we can recognise that it is
about peace.
Mr President keep your
eyes on the real prize: Peace.
US climate commitments
unambitious - US leadership nonexistent.
The US has only agreed
to a provisional goal of cutting its greenhouse
gas pollution by 4 percent below 11000 levels
by 2020. This offer falls dangerously short
of the 25-40 percent cut deemed necessary
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, the body of scientists who won the
Noble Prize for their work on the issue
in 2007.
American negotiators
have been proposing a so-called “implementation
agreement” that would have pollution cuts
by countries aspire to what is politically
feasible at home and only subject to domestic
enforcement. This form of agreement will
not build the trust and transparency within
the international community that is so desperately
needed to achieve a planet-saving deal.
It also runs contrary to the commitment
to global cooperation - the very reason
why Obama won the Nobel Prize.
The climate negotiations
can succeed with the help of a true leader.
President Obama, emboldened by the recognition
of the Nobel Committee, must tell the world
he is willing to sign a deal that is ambitious,
fair and legally binding.
Greenpeace calls on
the Copenhagen Climate Summit to agree a
multilateral, legally binding deal, which
must include:
?Emissions cuts of 40
percent by 2020 by industrialised countries,
using 11000 levels as the baseline
?140 billion USD a year from the industrialised
world for developing countries to deal with
climate impacts, act on climate change and
stop deforestation
?An end of tropical deforestation by 2020.
?Developing countries must reduce their
projected emissions growth by 15-30 percent
by 2020, with support from industrialised
countries.
