Key to Copenhagen money goes to youth instead

Auckland Monday November 23 2009- Greenpeace will give the money it raised to help get John Key to Copenhagen to two youth delegations instead.

Nearly $5,000 was raised through cakestalls, sausage sizzles, donations and auctions to help get the Prime Minister to the UN climate talks, as part of the Sign On campaign (www.signon.org.nz).

Sign On ambassadors Lucy Lawless and Jim Salinger last week travelled to Parliament to present the money to the Prime Minister, but he refused to meet them and refused the cheque.

The money will now go to five Enviro-Challenge students and 12 members of the New Zealand Youth Delegation who’re travelling to Denmark.

Both groups will attend the International Youth Climate Forum in Copenhagen, which precedes the main climate talks and a statement from the forum will be put into the main agenda. The 12 members of the youth delegation will then stay on for the duration of the talks.

One of the five Enviro-challenge ambassadors, Phoebe Hunt (17), from Rotorua, said they’d be taking a clear message to world leaders – address climate change now. “They need to understand that the young people of today will be inheriting the challenge of climate change. If today’s leaders don’t act now the challenge may become insurmountable.

Chairman of the Enviro Challenge Trust, Calum Revfem said: “the investment in these young ambassadors has an invaluable return. We will need leaders in the future who have the skills and attributes to address the enormous challenge that climate change poses.”

Chelsea Robinson from Auckland, who’s part of the NZ Youth Delegation: "As a group of youth otherwise self funded, we are so thankful for financial support. This money is helping our future in more ways than one; it’s supporting the development of 12 fantastic young New Zealanders and it’s helping us represent the voice of kiwi youth on the world stage"

Meanwhile support for John Key going to Copenhagen and committing to a 40% by 2020 emissions reduction target is growing, not just in New Zealand (http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeace-nz/map/ ) but right around the world. (http://www.signon.org.nz/casts-map

For more information on all 17 delegates, see http://www.youthdelegation.org.nz/ and http://www.envirochallenge.co.nz/

ENDS