At dawn this morning, 12 Greenpeace activists in inflatable boats entered the world’s biggest coal port at Newcastle and, in a play on the APEC acronym, painted the message ‘Australia Pushing Export Coal’ in two metre high letters along the side of a coal ship.

The message is part of a peaceful protest to highlight to the world that Australia s addiction to coal is behind its spoiler role in international negotiations on climate change. It also exposes the Howard Government’s real APEC agenda: to protect Australia’s coal export industry by undermining the Kyoto Protocol.

Activists also unfurled a large banner in Chinese, calling on China to be cautious of John Howard and George Bush’s attempts to sabotage Kyoto.

“Australia’s climate policy is to ‘Push Export Coal’ and to hell with the consequences for the planet,” said Ben Pearson, Greenpeace energy campaigner.

“Real action on climate change means moving away from coal and shifting to clean, renewable energy – and we don’t have the luxury of time for expensive talkfests that have no concrete outcomes.

“Like any dealer protecting its patch, Australia’s government under John Howard is blatantly ignoring global efforts to extend and strengthen Kyoto, the only internationally binding agreement to deal with climate change – and pushing instead a hopelessly vague distraction through APEC.”

During APEC week, Australia will export more than four million tonnes of coal, resulting in over 11 million tonnes of CO2 emissions – equivalent to the annual emissions from 800,000 average Australian households. Factoring in the costs of climate change impacts, as detailed in the Stern Review, Australia’s coal exports will result in more than $1.2 billion of damage during the APEC week alone, and $64 billion annually.

Australia is already the world’s largest exporter of climate changing coal. In the next few years, the coal industry will undergo vast expansion. For example, Newcastle, already the world’s largest coal export port, will double in capacity.

“At a time when we need to see deep reductions in greenhouse gases, Australia is not only refusing to act, but is also increasing the greenhouse pollution it exports to the rest of the world. Australia’s climate policy is to protect coal exports at the expense of the climate rather than make the switch to renewable energy and improved energy efficiency measures we know we need to make.”

Greenpeace is calling on APEC countries to reject John Howard’s efforts to undermine the Kyoto Protocol through his calls for ‘aspirational targets’. Instead APEC should commit to negotiations to strengthen and extend the Protocol beginning in Bali, Indonesia, in December.