The activists sealed the building and refused to let the politicians leave until they committed to "Save the Climate" and "Bail out the Planet". "Our finance ministers are giving billions of taxpayers' money to failed banks and their managers. We are here to make sure they put money on the table to tackle climate change," said Thomas Henningsen,climate campaigner for Greenpeace International. "If the planet were a bank they would bail it out."
To reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and cope with the already unavoidable impacts of climate change, developing countries need atl east €110 billion a year by 2020 from rich countries.(2)
Each country's contribution towards a climate bailout plan is based on its ability to pay and its level of responsibility in causing climate change. Based on this, European governments should contribute €35billion a year, the equivalent of just €1.30 a week per European citizen. The price of a bus ticket.(3)
"Our leaders failed to respond to the warning signs of the financial crisis and we are now all paying the price. We cannot afford to let them make the same mistake with the climate crisis. Substantial investment must be made now to prevent runaway climate change, if notit will literally cost us the earth," said Joris den Blanken,Greenpeace EU climate policy director.
To help raise these funds, Greenpeace supports a new scheme that puts a price tag on greenhouse gas emissions and asks rich countries to pay for their carbon footprint according to their means and the irresponsibility for causing the problem (4).
The decisions made today will directly influence Europe's position at the UN climate summit in December 2009. Heads of State will meet in Brussels on March 19 and 20 to give the verdict on how much financial backing the EU will provide developing countries to tackle climate change. Leading scientists meeting in Copenhagen this week are expected to warn of the accelerating consequences of inaction wrought by runaway climate change within our lifetimes.
Other contacts: Thomas Henningsen – Greenpeace International climate campaigner: +49 (0)171 878 0833Joris den Blanken - Greenpeace EU climate and energy policy director: +32 (0) 476 961 375 Mark Breddy - Greenpeace EU communications: +32 (0)496 156 229 Matilda Bradshaw – Greenpeace International communications: +31 (0)6 2900 1131Greenpeace International photo desk + 44 (0) 7801 615 889Greenpeace International video desk +31 (0) 634738790
Notes: 1] Activists are from 16 EU countries, plus Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Israel and Lebanon. Interviews are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Danish and Dutch.[2] The finance package should be divided as follows:- €40 billion a year to shift developing countries onto a low emissions pathway;- €30 billion a year to stop deforestation through a ‘forests for climate’ protection fund (see www.greenpeace.org/forestsforclimate for details on Greenpeace’s proposed funding mechanism);- €40 billion a year to enable the most vulnerable to cope with climate change.[3&4] To see how much each EU country should contribute and how to raise the funds, see http://www.greenpeace.org/financing-eu-responsibility[5] Scientists are attending "Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions" in Copenhagen on 10-12 March.