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Rudd's climate emissions shock and awe hits Greenpeace
People in the Greenpeace office in Sydney are still in shock that Australian PM Kevin Rudd has just announced an atrocious emissions target of 5% by 2020. Staff and volunteers put their heads up over the partitions, mouths agape, when the news went around. This is one of those moments that puts a very powerful…
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The Coal Industry’s Christmas Joke
One thing I always associate with Christmas is terrible jokes. It might be that and awful gag has just fallen out of a broken cracker or, after a bit too much brandy, Dad decides to update us on how his comedy act is coming along. But the coal industry have outdone us all this Christmas…
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An Ill Wind Blows For Aussie Workers
As Australian government delegates do nothing in Poznan, our unsupported renewables industry starts to close down back home. Last night, ABC-TV’s 7.30 Report program revealed that hundreds of Australian wind industry employees are about to be sacked, thanks to government inaction on renewables target promises. And there’s a bitter irony. In the same town as…
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Poznan day 8: Forests Are More Than Just Carbon Sticks
Paul Winn, our climate and forests campaigner, is in Poznan to talk about the Greenpeace Forests for Climate proposal. The world’s forests are more than just carbon sticks and a market offset approach won’t do much to ensure real emissions reductions to help avert catastrophic climate change. Greenpeace proposes a solution that addresses the need…
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Poznan day 7: Voices of the climate affected
This post is from Paul Yaqona, one of our Pacific representatives in Poznan. The Poznan meeting has a bunch of ‘side events’ (including one by Greenpeace on our Forests for Climate proposal). I’ve been to the ‘Local Mitigation and Adaptation Measures of Indigenous Peoples’ side event – and it proved to be a fantastic eye-opener…
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What are our delegates doing at Poznan?
The first week of the UN climate change talks in Poznan, Poland are coming to an end, and so far, the 30-strong Australian delegation has remained resolutely silent during the sessions. According to my contacts on the ground at the meeting, the Australian delegates have hardly said a word – apart from suggesting time-wasting agenda…
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Poznan, Day 3: Coal rears its ugly head – activists to the rescue
This post is just in from Leah Wickham, one of our Pacific representatives in Poznan. It’s day three of the UNFCCC COP 14, and while world leaders continue their discussions in Poznan to decide on measures to reduce global emissions, less than two hours away, in Konin, plans are in place to expand an enormous…
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An open letter to Kevin Rudd on climate
Today Greenpeace released this joint statement, together with over 50 Australian environmental organisations. Any day now the Federal Cabinet will be making a decision about the target for cutting greenhouse emissions over the next decade. It’s a crucial moment. We’ll find out what the target is on the 15th – when we will know if…
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It’s your meeting but it’s my home
This post is just in from Leah Wickham, our Pacific representative in Poznan. I arrived in Poland two days ago, having travelled thousands of miles from the hub of the South Pacific and enduring flight delays, missed connections and lost luggage. Then there’s the cold and the minus-0 temperature. That is agonising for a girl…
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40% or bust – call Penny & Kevin
Late on Friday afternoon, our Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, put out a media release stating that Australia would not be announcing it’s greenhouse reduction targets before the international meeting in Poznan. It seems that Cabinet are split on what the target should be. A decision still hasn’t been made but it will be…
