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Government Helps Pioneer Climate Scam
Auckland, 16 April 2009 –
Government helps pioneer climate scam
The Government should not be congratulating itself on supporting one of the biggest climate change solution scams around, says Greenpeace.
This follows an announcement that the New Zealand government is becoming a founding member of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.
“Relying on carbon capture and storage (CCS) to tackle emissions is like wilfully contracting a disease in the hope that medical science may one day provide a cure,” said Greenpeace New Zealand Climate Campaigner Simon Boxer.
“CCS is a dangerous distraction in the fight against climate change. The technology is unproven, risky, and expensive, and will be developed to the detriment of sustainable solutions.”
This was all proven in a Greenpeace report released last year - ‘False Hope: Why carbon capture and storage won’t save the climate’ (1). The report relies on independent, peer-reviewed scientific sources and details why the technology is risky and not a solution to the growing climate crisis.
“The unproven technology for capturing carbon dioxide then dumping it underground remains very much on the drawing board,” said Boxer. “Carbon capture and storage is the ultimate coal industry greenwash tool. The priority must instead be investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
Fraught with uncertainties over practicality and cost, CCS technology is not expected to be commercially available before 2030. By then it will be too late for it to play a role in combating climate change. Climate experts agree that global greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2015 and be close to zero by 2050.
“Just as there is no guaranteed safe way to bury nuclear waste, there is no guaranteed safe way to bury carbon. No matter how much research goes into CCS, the ability to keep this carbon stored under ground for thousands of years can never be guaranteed.
“Every dollar invested in carbon capture and storage research is a wasted dollar if it diverts money away from renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
Greenpeace is calling on the Government to commit to a 40 per cent by 2020 emission reduction target at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
(1) “False Hope: why carbon capture and
storage won’t save the climate”, Greenpeace
International. May 2008 is available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/reports4/false-hope-why-carbon-capture
ENDS
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
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