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Protests Continue against coal ship in Denmark
Greenpeace continues protests against coal ship in Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark, 3 December 2008 – Greenpeace activists are blocking the ship Hanjin Imabari, carrying coal from Richards Bay, South Africa to the Danish coal plant Enstedværket, in Aabenraa, from offloading its many tonnes of coal. Activists have blocked a crane used to unload the coal, while the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior is urging the Danish government to Quit Coal.
The action, which began yesterday morning in the Baltic Sea[1], coincides with negotiations within the European Union to agree its ‘climate package’, legislation aimed at combating global warming. It also coincides with Greenpeace actions in Poland, where governments are meeting in Poznan to discuss their greenhouse gas reduction commitments for post-2012. They will agree these commitments in 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. [2]
“We are taking this action because burning coal is destroying the climate,” said Tarjei Haaland, climate and energy campaigner, Greenpeace Nordic. “We are sending a message to the governments meeting in Poznan that it’s time to get serious about climate action. As next year’s host to the most important climate negotiations the worῬd has ever undertaken, Denmark must take the lead and quit coal.
Denmark is the world’s fifth biggest importer of coal. Its main sources of coal imports - South Africa, Columbia, Russia, Poland and Australia - all suffer the unacceptable costs of coal mining. Greenpeace’s new report, “The True Cost of Coal”, shows how the market price of coal is just part of the overall story. External costs - all too often paid f`r by the poorest communities in society -include explosions, pollution of water resource, toxic waste, displacement of local communities, and affects on human health. [3]
“From the moment it is dug up through to its burning and waste, coal has devastating effects on our climate, our environment, our health and our livelihoods,” Haaland warned. “The Danish government cannot make any more excuses. It is simply time to “quit coal.”
At Poznan, governments must agree:
• a “climate vision” that
will address what the science requires: global emissions
peaking by 2015.
• a draft negotiating text on the
table
• a detailed workplan to get this completed by
Copenhagen in December 2009
• greenhouse gas emission
reduction targets for developed countries at the upper end
of 25-40%, as identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
Notes:
[1] Greenpeace climbers
from the Rainbow Warrior attempted to board the coal ship
Hanjin Imabari, but were repelled with fire hoses.
[2]
See http://www.greenpeace.org/kyoto
[3]
The True Cost of Coal report is available from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/true-cost-coal
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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