Greenpeace is demanding that both major parties commit to deep cuts to Australia’s greenhouse gas pollution in the next decade, which means switching from coal fired power to cleaner and smarter energy use.

   

Latest action update as of 9.45am

The power station has been evacuated and is shutting down due to our occupation. Seven activists have been arrested and eight are still inside the plant. The activists have shut down the coal-feed conveyor belt and painted the message "Coal Kills" on the roof of the station. They have also deployed a banner saying "Climate change starts here." Two activists are also hanging off the roof displaying climate change messages.

  

The Munmorah coal-fired power station, 110km north-east of Sydney, is the oldest in NSW and one of the most inefficient in the country.

Read more about the power station.

Climate activists took non-violent direct action to shut down the 
power station by locking onto the conveyor system to prevent coal from feeding the plant. The activists hung a huge banner reading 'Climate change starts here'.

Another team climbed on the roof of the main building to paint the message "Coal Kills". All staff were evacuated from the plant around 7am.

Energy campaigner John Hepburn, who was one of the climb team, said that we couldn't just sit back and watch while scientists measure how quickly humans are killing the planet.

"We need to cut carbon emissions right now. It’s not complicated. If we installed solar hot water heaters in half of NSW’s households we could switch off Munmorah and cut 1.5 million tonnes of CO2," he said.

“The activists are protesting because just one week away from the federal election, both major parties are backing climate policies that will see greenhouse emissions increase. This at a time when the world’s top scientists are telling us we have no time to lose and must make deep cuts to emissions if we are to avoid dangerous climate change."

Greenpeace is pressuring the two major political parties to commit to massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade. The first step is to make the switch from coal plants (starting with the oldest and dirtiest) to energy efficiency and renewables.

TAKE ACTION: Help Greenpeace pressure Australia's major political parties to shut down Australia's coal-fired power plants.

WATCH: Australian climate scientist, Dr Melanie Fitzpatrick as she comments on the latest findings from the Nobel-prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

DOWNLOAD: background information on the Munmorah coal-fired power station