Fwd: Greenpeace E-bulletin: Downing Street blocked with tonnes of coal

November 14, 2005

Note: forwarded message attached.Peter H

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E-bulletin

14 November 05

www.greenpeace.org.uk

DOWNING STREET BLOCKED WITH TONNES OF COAL

This morning we sent a reminder to Tony Blair of his commitment to tackle climate change - several tonnes of coal.

At 7.30am a truck emblazoned with the slogan 'Blair – Climate Failure' arrived at the Horse Guard's Road entrance to Mr Blair's residence. Simultaneously 50 Greenpeace volunteers emptied sacks of the polluting fuel across the King Charles Street entrance and the access point on Horse Guards parade blocking three entrances to Downing Street.

Tony Blair clearly knows that government led action on climate change is urgently needed, but he has yet to take any significant action. And now Blair is backtracking on his commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. In a series of statements in recent weeks the Prime Minister has cast doubt on his long-term support for the global agreement, while UK emissions of carbon-dioxide have risen since he came to power.

One of the volunteers, Stephen Tindale, a former environment advisor to New Labour and now the executive director of Greenpeace, said:

"We've blockaded Downing Street with coal because Tony Blair has failed on climate change. We hope he clears his diary and spends the day in his office working to strengthen Kyoto and cut British emissions, because so far all he's done is make speeches. They told us things can only get better, but Blair's burning more coal than ever, our CO2 emissions have gone up, he's set to miss his own global warming targets and now it seems he's trying to kill off the Kyoto Protocol."

Negotiations for the second phase of Kyoto are set to begin in Montreal this month, but the Prime Minister has indicated he doesn't support the tough new climate change targets the agreement is designed to eventually deliver. In a speech this month Blair said: "The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge." Lord May, President of the Royal Society, responded last week by saying: "The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that countries are not doing enough to adapt their economies so that they reduce their greenhouse gas emissions."

The United Kingdom is one of those countries.

"Climate change is already killing 150,000 people a year, hundreds of species are threatened with extinction and entire island states could disappear under water,” said Tindale. “We're facing a climate catastrophe, but Blair's back-tracking. He needs to act, and soon. He could cut emissions by burning less coal, getting right behind renewable energy schemes, dropping airport expansion plans, making cars use less fuel and making Britain's buildings more energy efficient."

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