The four environmental organizations involved in the protest
are calling on the countries attending the meeting to take real action on
global warming and resist endorsing the Bush agenda of undermining the Kyoto
Protocol and substituting voluntary pledges for binding commitments. Those
groups include: Greenpeace; Oil Change International; Chesapeake Climate Action
Network, and the
Climate Emergency Council.
“This week’s meeting is all about talk with no word of
action by the Bush administration,” said Christopher Miller, global warming
campaigner with Greenpeace
“And it is an effort to deflect the criticism that Bush deserves for refusing
to introduce mandatory emissions cuts and targets in the
administration has called the meeting under the guise of appearing concerned
about global warming. However, the
is one of only two countries at this week’s meeting that are not engaging with
the Kyoto Protocol; the other is
All the developing countries attending the meeting –
including
signed, and are actively working with, the Kyoto Protocol and its mechanisms.
has introduced its own binding renewable
energy targets of 15 percent by 2020 along with energy efficiency targets. In contrast, Bush has threatened to veto the
energy bill currently on the table in the U.S. Congress.
Greenpeace pointed to the
negotiations in
legitimate game in town.” If successful,
the meeting would establish a two-year timetable for negotiating a strengthened
second phase of
beginning in 2013.
support at the UN High Level meeting in
York
Greenpeace is calling for cutting emissions by more than half globally
by mid-century, with industrialized countries leading the process by cutting
emissions by at least 30 percent by 2020 and at least 80 percent by 2050 – from
1990 levels.
VVPR info: Photos available at: http://usaphoto.greenpeace.org/bigemit/
Contacts: Jane Kochersperger, Media Officer, Greenpeace U.S.A., (202) 680-3798 cell
