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Greenpeace Occupies Parliament to Save the Planet
Greenpeace protestors have climbed onto the roof of the UK parliament and are refusing to budge until politicians take notice (it would be hard for them not to!). They have written an open letter to leaders outlining policy that must be implemented to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Go Greenpeace!
A victory for anti-coal protestors
Eon announced last week that it’s delaying by three years the decision on whether to replace Kingsnorth Power Station with a new plant, a move that delighted the No to New Coal crowd and climate-change campaigners.
The campaign to stop Kingsnorth being repowered has been long and arduous, and can be seen as a real victory by every activist, from those who formed the Mili-band circle to those who broke in and climbed the towers and shut down the plant last year.
The UK government may be fretting slightly however, as it hoped Eon would continue to build the new plant according to its new Carbon Capture & Storage policy. This states that no new coal plant can be built in the UK without capturing at least 25% of the carbon emissions – a policy that it was hoped would keep the coal industry going but clean up its act, whilst stimulating the carbon capture industry. Instead, Eon has just shelved the idea, undermining government policy.
The “vote blue get green” Conservative party reaction was interesting. “A Conservative government will immediately authorise at least three power stations fitted with carbon capture and storage, enough to keep the lights on by 2017 and giving Britain a leading role in vital new green technology,” said Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Greg Clark. Actually, Eon probably deferred its Kingsnorth program because Carbon Capture and Storage is hugely expensive and hasn’t been shown to work anywhere in the world.
Authorising three new CCS plants is one thing, but convincing companies to build them will be a whole different ball game.
Obama forces federal agency emissions cuts
Barack Obama seems hell bent on finding alleyways to exert his environmental policies any way he can whilst his major climate bill struggles to be passed. In the latest example he’s signed a presidential order for all federal agencies to come up with 2020 emissions reductions targets within 90 days.
Oh and…
Dame Ellen Mcarthur retires from yacht racing because of her concerns for the climate, NOT because her world record was smashed by a Frenchman!