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Day 3 of climate protest in Asia

Coal is the worst climate offender Enlarge Image

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.

Greenpeace activists paint two gigantic cracks on the 32 year old nuclear reactor dome at Borssele, Netherlands. The Dutch government wants to keep the plant, one of the world's oldest, open beyond 2013, despite inherent safety and security risks. Enlarge Image

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.

A Greenpeace activist dressed in a polar bear suit holds up a sign advocating the Kyoto Protocol near an entrance to the Forbidden City. Enlarge Image

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.

Greenpeace negotiators and members of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development call for action on climate change at the Johannesburg Earth Summit. Enlarge Image

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.

One of the largest wind farms in South America. Enlarge Image

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.

Building a toxic free, sustainable home for low-income families. The house is free of toxic materials like PVC, the wood is from sustainable forests and the construction is solar powered. Enlarge Image

Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency is a very broad term referring to the many different ways we can get the same amount of work (light, heat, motion, etc.) done with less energy. It covers efficient cars, energy saving lights, improved industrial practices, better building insulation and a host of other technologies. Since saving energy and saving money often amount to the same thing, energy efficiency is highly profitable.

The UK's first wind farm in the Irish Sea which will supply 50,000 homes with power. Enlarge Image

Wind

Wind power, the world's fastest growing energy source, is a deceptively simple technology. Behind the tall, slender towers and steadily turning blades lies a complex interplay of lightweight materials, aerodynamic design and computer controlled electronics. Power is transferred from the rotor through a gearbox, sometimes operating at variable speed, and then to a generator (although some turbines avoid a gearbox by use of direct drive).

Close up of the sun. Globally, the sun provides 10000 times the energy humanity uses – energy free to anyone who can harness it. Enlarge Image

Solar - Sunlight to Energy

Solar Energy is already being harnessed in many part of the world and it has the potential to provide several times the current world energy consumption if properly exploited. Solar can be used to directly produce electricity or for heating and even for cooling. Future potential of solar is only limited by our willingness to seize the opportunity.

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