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We are demanding that Kevin Rudd stops expanding Australia’s coal industry and risking the future of Pacific Islands.
Several activists climbed onto the coal loader and locked it down. One has since been arrested. Activists arrived at the coal terminal in inflatables launched from Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza. The activists will stay on the coal loader, stopping Australia’s major contribution to climate change – export coal – until our message has got through to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
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| LATEST UPDATE 7.10PM | ||
| Small Islands States have produced a communiqué at the Pacific Islands Forum that includes the AOSIS call for developed countries to cut C02 emissions by 45% by 2020. This is a great milestone, and ensures that the pressure will be on both the larger Pacific countries as well as Australia and New Zealand to do something significant at the forum. | ||
| UPDATE 6PM: | ||
| All activists have been taken down from the Abbot Point coal facility and are being detained by the police. |
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| UPDATE 3.15PM: | ||
| Activists have unfurled a banner reading "Coal or climate, Kevin?". Latest images on Facebook | ||
| UPDATE 2.30PM: | ||
| Three activists remain locked onto a jety that is part of the expanded coal port. They plan to stay until Kevin Rudd gets the message. | ||
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Why are we doing this?
The Pacific Islands face dire consequences from climate change. For their leaders, ensuring a 40-45% emissions reduction target and a strong global climate treaty are matters of survival.
Kevin Rudd has pledged to reduce emissions 5-25% by 2020. But he is leading an export coal expansion that would cancel out the most ambitious target six times over.
Sam Moko, one of the Abbot Point activists, comes from Papua New Guinea. He says, “It doesn’t matter where this coal is burned, carbon pollution has no borders. Our homes are being devastated by climate change and we need genuine support from our Australian neighbours, not make-believe emissions cuts and empty gestures.”
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Abbot Point, major polluter and growing
Abbot Point coal export terminal is set to double in size, financed by more than $328 million of public money in 2009/10. This will add an extra 67.5 million tonnes of carbon pollution a year – equal to the annual carbon footprint of 2.4 million Australians.
Abbot Point is only a small part of Australia’s largest coal export expansion in decades. Total capacity will more than double from 332 to 730 millions tonnes per year.
The expansion is a snub for the Pacific, and an economic and environmental disaster for Australia.
By reinforcing Australia’s position as the world’s largest carbon dealer, Kevin Rudd continues to shun both his neighbours and common sense. Supporting Pacific leaders at the Pacific Island Forum would be a major step in the right direction.
Briefing: Underhand and Underground: Kevin Rudd's Real Climate Agenda [PDF 379kb]
