Four Greenpeace campaigners swim out in front of a giant oil drilling ship, operated by US energy giant Chevron, in an effort to halt its progress towards a deep water drilling site off Scotland. The four left the Greenpeace ship Esperanza by inflatable speedboat and dived into open seas 100 miles north of Shetland. They are calling on the world to 'go beyond oil' and for EU politicians to enact a ban on all deepwater drilling.
About a third of oil in Europe is used by cars and vans, but recent technological advances have shown that this level of consumption can easily be reduced. Some top-selling van models have achieved an over 10% cut in emissions since 2007. Proposals tabled by the Commission would require carmakers to cut emissions by 14% between 2007 and 2016.
Greenpeace EU transport policy adviser Franziska Achterberg said: "By resisting efficiency targets that it can easily reach, the car industry is destroying the climate and prolonging Europe's addiction to oil. As long as they continue producing inefficient vehicles, carmakers will encourage oil companies to take more risks to reach oil in dangerous places."
MEPs are likely to widen a number of loopholes undermining already weak CO2 targets for vans proposed by the European Commission for 2016 and 2020. They could support measures allowing carmakers to continue producing high emissions vans by offsetting them with a limited amount of electric vans, by exploiting so-called 'eco-innovation' technologies (with unquantifiable benefits) and by reducing the CO2 emissions of passenger cars instead of vans.
Vans make up around 10% of road vehicles in the EU, and are responsible for 6-7% of the EU's oil consumption. Oil consumption and CO2 emissions from vans are forecast to increase by 17% between 2010 and 2020, in the absence of additional measures.
Deep-sea drilling resolution
Greenpeace calls for a full ban of new deep-water drilling in EU waters and for credible measures to dramatically reduce oil consumption in order to eliminate the need for imports of deep-water oil in the future. It is estimated that around 10% of oil in the EU comes from deep-sea drilling operations similar to BP's Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico.
Achterberg said: "There is no safe way of extracting oil from the bottom of the ocean. The Parliament should apply all its weight to avoid any chance of another Gulf of Mexico-style environmental disaster in Europe."
Greenpeace is confronting dangerous oil extraction across the world. In the most recent action, environmental activists prevented a giant oil drilling ship, the Stena Carron, operated by US energy giant Chevron, from beginning a dangerous deep water drilling programme in the North Atlantic. [1]
For a detailed comment on the outcome of the Parliament vote, please contact Franziska Achterberg (see below)
For photos of recent Greenpeace actions against oil, call +44 (0) 207 865 8230 or +31 (0)20 718 2113
For video call +31 (0) 646162015 or +31 (0)20 718 2115
Notes:
[1] See: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/Greenpeace-Swimmers-Continue-to-Stop-Oil-Drilling-Ship-in-Atlantic/