Climate meeting in Bonn: leaders wanted

Stop climate change

The world's leaders meet at the end of 2009 in Copenhagen to determine the fate of the climate. They could set us on the path to a deep emissions cuts or they could lock the planet into catastrophic, irreversible climate change.

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Energy [R]evolution

Our Energy [R]evolution outlines a global plan for a sustainable renewable economic future. It shows us how we can get from where we are now, to where we need to be to avoid a climate change disaster. It was developed with specialists from the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and more than 30 scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and the renewable energy industry around the world.

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Coal

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Cars

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Take action

With the world on the brink of runaway climate change, millions are anxious about the effects that a warmer globe will have on our everyday lives. Wanting to learn, act and agitate is a perfectly valid response.

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Your energy savings

Efficiency how to: Some clever ways to save lots of electricity and money (and by the way: also the planet)

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Greenhouse effect

The Earth's atmosphere is made up of a blanket of gases, which trap enough heat to sustain life. However, by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests humans pump billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. We also add other gasses to the atmosphere in smaller quantities.

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CO2 emissions

The primary human source of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is from the burning of fossil fuels for energy production and transport. Changes in land use and deforestation also contribute significantly. Trees, for example, are natural 'carbon sinks' - they absorb carbon dioxide while alive and when they are destroyed, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, most of the carbon dioxide stays there for 50 to 200 years, and some of it stays there indefinitely.

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Other gases

Although carbon dioxide is the most significant greenhouse gas in terms of human emissions, we are also adding others to the atmosphere that are even better at trapping heat. The Kyoto Protocol covers emissions of five gases beside carbon dioxide: methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). In addition, water vapour is also a greenhouse gas, but its presence in the atmosphere is not directly affected by human activity.

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Impacts

No one knows how much warming is "safe". What we do know is that climate change is already harming people and ecosystems. Its reality can be seen in melting glaciers, disintegrating polar ice, thawing permafrost, dying coral reefs, rising sea levels, changing ecosystems and fatal heat waves. And it is not only scientists that are witnessing these changes. From Inuit in the far north to islanders near the equator - people are already struggling with the impacts of climate change.

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Global Melting

As the Earth warms, its ice melts. This global melting is an early and obvious sign of climate change, but its implications go far beyond merely losing snow and ice. For starters, some people and ecosystems depend on the ice - glaciers for water supply in areas of seasonal rainfall, for example, and sea ice for habitat.

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Arctic and Antarctic

The Arctic and parts of Antarctica are warming at a much faster rate than the rest of the world. During the 20th century, air temperatures in some parts of the Arctic rose by about 5° Celsius (9° F) – ten times faster than the global average.

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Glaciers

Glaciers are more than just magnificent landscapes of ice and snow. Around the world they act as frozen reservoirs providing water for billions of people, as well as animals and plants. Glaciers also influence local climates and ecosystems, and their melting is a dramatic warning of a warming world.

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Habitat loss

"Most of the world's endangered species -- some 25 percent of mammals and 12 percent of birds -- may become extinct over the next few decades as warmer conditions alter the forests, wetlands, and rangelands they depend on, and human development blocks them from migrating elsewhere." -- UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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Health, food and water

Heat waves attributable in part to climate change are forecast to kill hundreds of thousands in this century, however climate change will also have disastrous effects on water supplies, agriculture, and the spread of disease. Rich and poor alike will be affected, but countries that are already struggling to provide food and water for their people will suffer the most.

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Sea level rise

"The Maldives is one of the small states. We are not in a position to change the course of events in the world. But what you do or do not do here will greatly influence the fate of my people. It can also change the course of world history." -- Statement by H.E. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (Maldives) Kyoto, Japan, 3rd Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC

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Extreme weather

There is strong evidence that extreme weather events – such as hurricanes, floods, droughts and heat waves – are increasing because of climate change. In fact, the Financial Initiative of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) recently calculated that the economic costs of global warming are doubling every decade. The cumulative number of people affected by disasters rose to two billion in the 1990s, up from 740 million in the 1970s. Virtually all of these millions were concentrated in poorer countries.

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Ocean circulation

The water in our world's oceans is always moving – pulled by tides, blown by waves, and slowly circulating around the globe by the force of the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt (aka thermohaline circulation). The Conveyor is powered by differences is water temperature and salinity, and one of its most well know parts, the Gulf Stream, is what gives Europe it's relatively mild climate.

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Climate voices

The real meaning of climate change can not be fully grasped from scientific charts and equations alone; one needs to hear the stories of those who are living through it, grappling with its implications, and struggling to find ways to halt it. Part of what we do is to give a voice to these first hand witnesses of climate change. Here is what some of them have to say:

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Governments

There is a fundamental irony and injustice at the heart of the climate change problem. Today’s growing body of evidence indicates very clearly that the first and worst impacts of climate change are felt by the poor in the developing world. The responsibility for the problem, however, lies primarily with the rich industrialised nations, and increasingly the rapidly industrialising nations.

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Kyoto

On 16 February 2005, in the culmination of ten years of sometimes exhausting and often frustrating negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol became law. Thirty-five industrialised countries along with the European Union are now legally bound to reduce or limit their greenhouse gas emissions.

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Kyoto - possible pitfalls

Although it is the only international agreement which limits the emissions that cause climate change, the Kyoto Protocol is far from perfect, and contains potential loopholes. Over the years of negotiations, many of these have been closed or restricted, but enough remain to undermine the effectiveness of the agreement if the international community is not vigilant.

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United Nations

The United Nations plays a key role in coordinating the international response to climate change. But it is no simple job getting cooperation and agreement from the 191 member states of the UN - all intent on pursuing their own self interests and policies - even when the evidence is clearly shows that failing to act would be disastrous for all.

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United States

The saying, "If you not part of the solution, you're part of the problem", is a massive understatement when it comes to the Bush administration and climate change. With less than 5 percent of the world's population, the US is the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases and is responsible for nearly 25 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

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Europe

As one of the biggest global emitters of greenhouse gases, the European Union (EU) must lead the international efforts to stop climate change.

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Project work

Climate change is a priority issue for us here at Greenpeace. We realised years ago that it has the potential to wipe out most of the gains the environmental movement has made in other areas. Disruptions to ecosystems will likely harm everything from minke whales to coral reefs to polar bears. Whole forests will be lost, and hundreds of thousands of species will become extinct. Climate change will also bring devastation to people and communities, especially some of the world's poorest.

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Protests and direct actions

Carbon dioxide, the most significant global warming gas, is odourless, invisible, and an easy thing to ignore as our world heats up to dangerous levels. At Greenpeace, it's part of our job to make the invisible impossible to ignore. Often this means going to the source of the problem - hanging a banner on a coal plant's giant smokestack, for example. Other times, it means reminding decision makers they have a higher responsibility than the corporate bottom line.

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International negotiations

This page is intended primarily for policy makers, journalists and others who attend or report on international meetings about climate change. Hopefully though, it is also useful to anyone who wants better understanding of what goes on at these meetings, and what is at stake from their results.

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Solutions

Greenpeace is pushing for some big, visionary measures to turn around the global trend towards runaway climate change. The plan needs political will to make it happen and the opportunity is at the Copenhagen summit in December. You can get behind our plan in a whole lot of different ways. Here's how.

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