It's been an amazing year and we've come a long way. Our leaders failed us in Copenhagen but their failure will inspire action. We will not give up until John Key commits to a target of 40 per cent by 2020.

It's important that the truth about Copenhagen is told. What follows is a message from the Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo.

Dear friends,

Like tens of millions of people around the world who have been working long and hard for a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty to come out of the Copenhagen climate summit, I held on to my hope until the very end that our leaders would stop talking and start acting; that they would agree a treaty to avert the threat of climate catastrophe.

My hope has been dashed. Despite a mandate from citizens around the world, and over 120 world leaders attending the Summit, the bickering continued. Our leaders did not lead, they did not act. The summit has failed to produce anything that could be called a fair and meaningful deal.

The city of Copenhagen is a climate crime scene, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport in shame. World leaders had a chance to change the world; to seize the day, and put us on a path way to peace and prosperity; to embark on a path of climate justice. In doing so, they could have banished the spectre of catastrophic climate change.

In the end they produced a poor deal full of loopholes big enough to fly Air Force One through.

Let's make them finish what they started.

It is now our job - yours and mine - to make sure our 'leaders' see sense, get back to work and get the job done.

Greenpeace, like many other groups around the world, will continue to pressure our leaders to do what must be done to save human lives and protect species which cannot speak for themselves.

More and more people are recognising the urgency of climate change. We believe there is a binding global treaty is an historic inevitability, but only the determined will of the people like you will make them act.

Kumi Naidoo
Executive Director
Greenpeace International

We've worked hard this year and we've achieved more than anyone ever thought possible. We are over 187,000 strong now in our call for urgent and real action on climate and that number rises every hour.

On behalf of the team here at Greenpeace NZ, thank you very very much to evryone who's been part of Sign On. We'll be back in the New Year because it ain't over yet!

 

 

Here's a video wrapup of the year:

Thanks again,

the team at Greenpeace NZ