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Greenpeace: The world’s climate being betrayed by G8 states

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.

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.

Temperature change 1765-2100: Graph excerpted from the IPCC's Third Assessment Report showing past and predicted changes to global temperature. Enlarge Image

Science

Climate change is a reality. Today, our world is hotter than it has been in two thousand years. By the end of the century, if current trends continue, the global temperature will likely climb higher than at any time in the past two million years. While the end of the 20th century may not necessarily be the warmest time in Earth's history, what is unique is that the warmth is global and cannot be explained by the natural mechanisms that explain previous warm periods. There is a broad scientific consensus that humanity is in large part responsible for this change, and that choices we make today will decide the climate of the future.

Scientific consensus

There is, in fact, a broad and overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is occurring, is caused in large part by human activities (such as burning fossil fuels), and if left un-checked will likely have disastrous consequences.

A clear indication that while the delegates inside the convention make new alliances and forge tenuous political partnerships, outside the UN buildings very real walls based on access to resouces continue to exist. Enlarge Image

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.

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.

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.

The Sellafield... or is it Springfield?... Nuclear Power Plant Enlarge Image

Solutions myths

Questions about solutions answered, and some myths debunked.

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General media enquiries:
+31 (0)20 718 2096.

Hotline:
+31 (0)20 718 2470

For EU related:
Mark Breddy
+32 2 2741 903(p)
+32 496 15 6229(m)
mark.breddy@greenpeace.org

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