BALI: THIS AIN’T NO HOLIDAY – GREENPEACE
Bali, Indonesia -10 December 2007– As the climate talks in Bali go in to their critical second week, Greenpeace warned that governments had to get their act together if they want this meeting to be a success.
"Today in Oslo the IPCC and Vice President Al Gore are being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in bringing the world’s attention to the urgency of the climate science. Governments know that if they don’t act on climate change, the environmental, social and economic costs will be huge. When Ministers arrive this week we want to see them hit the ground running," said Shane Rattenbury of Greenpeace International.
A leaked copy of the Canadian Government policy exposes a deliberate strategy to block the negotiations. Japan appears to have a similar plan. With the change of the Australian Government we expected leadership but is yet to emerge.
The developing world is largely being constructive – this is what we need. By the end of this week we want to see an agreement which recognizes that we need to keep global temperature rise as far below two degrees Celsius as possible. The leadership required to do this is still missing.
"We don’t want to see Ministers arriving here with speeches they wrote two weeks ago – they need to roll up their sleeves and do the work that their representatives have failed to finish this week. This meeting may be in Bali but this certainly ain’t no holiday," said Rattenbury.
One of the key issues of the meeting is how to address the 20% of global emissions from deforestation. "We are seeing the development of a crime scene here in Bali," said Rattenbury. "Most of the governments are only looking at the forests in terms of how much money they can get out of it. If there’s no breakthrough, then we’re looking at a climate crime."
Meanwhile the world’s finance Ministers are also meeting in Bali today.
"We call on these finance ministers to agree to fund the energy revolution that the world needs to stop climate change. Investing in a renewable electricity future will save ten times the fuel costs of a "business as usual", fossil-fuelled future, saving US $180 billion annually and cutting C02 emissions in half by 2030," said Sven Teske, Greenpeace energy campaigner.
This work has been mapped out by an extensive study by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council – which will be the subject of an event in Bali this evening.
