Stop Climate Chaos activists were at Kingsnorth in Kent this morning to urge the Prime Minister to abandon plans for a new generation of coal-fired power plants. They planted flags outside the existing power station as a symbol of opposition to Kingsnorth 2, a new development which, if it gets the go-ahead, will be the first new coal plant to be built in the UK for 30 years.

Developer E.ON UK plans to demolish the existing plant and replace it with a new coal-fired unit that is 20 per cent cleaner. But coal is the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive fuel known to mankind, and despite the industry's efforts to talk up 'clean coal' technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), such developments are in their infancy and would not be available for at least a decade, even if they can be made to work.

Colman's in South Shields has been described as "the nearest thing to an eco-chippy you're likely to find", a fish and chip restaurant which only serves wild fish from sustainable grounds, uses additive-free vegetable oil and sends its waste fat to be made into bio-fuel. Noted for its welcoming atmosphere, Colman's has featured regularly for the past few years in the Times' Top 10 UK Fish and Chip Shops, and was voted Best UK Takeaway at the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2007.

Update July 15 2008: After 23 days on remand Junichi and Toru have finally been released on bail today. We'd like to say a huge thank you to the many international Non-Governmental Organisations who signed a Statement of Concern about the situation, and above all to the quarter of a million people who sent an email to the Japanese government demanding their release.

Update July 1 2008: 23 days in custody without charge for Greenpeace Japan activists

Greenpeace supporters gathered outside the Japanese Embassy in London this lunchtime. They held a peaceful protest to express solidarity with the two anti-whaling campaigners currently being held without trial in Japan for their role in exposing a large scale embezzlement scandal within the Japanese government-sponsored Southern Ocean whaling program.

Among the ranks was Greenpeace UK Director John Sauven, who handed in a letter to Ambassador Shin Ebihara asking him to make urgent representation to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda for their immediate release, and to order a further investigation into the scandal exposed by Greenpeace.

Offshore wind - 3,500 new turbines by 2020?

Although the PM has taken a few verbal pastings from us over the past few months on key climate issues like airport expansion and new coal-fired power stations, in a new speech today he did much to redeem himself by announcing an ambitious plan to ensure Britain generates 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

To be sure, the government has promised as much in the past and failed to deliver, but there seemed to be something different about today's Renewable Energy Strategy Consultation - some meat on the bones which indicated that the plan might just be more than empty rhetoric. The government is consulting on ambitious plans designed to allow the UK to meet its share of an overall EU target to generate 20 per cent of energy (electricity, heat and transport) from renewables within 12 years.

With expanded and tougher criteria on toxic chemicals, electronic waste and new criteria on climate change only Sony and Sony Ericsson score more than 5/10 in our latest Guide to Greener Electronics. Nintendo and Microsoft remain rooted to the bottom of the Guide.

The Greener Electronics Guide is our way of getting the electronics industry to face up to the problem of e-waste. We want manufacturers to get rid of harmful chemicals in their products. We want to see an end to the stories of unprotected child labourers scavenging mountains of cast-off gadgets created by society's gizmo-loving ways.

Japanese police have arrested the two Greenpeace activists responsible for exposing a whale meat scandal involving the government-sponsored whaling programme. The two activists, Junichi Sato, 31, and Toru Suzuki, 41, are being investigated for allegedly stealing a box of whale meat which they presented as evidence.

Read more on our international site

Taking the message to the Philippines Department of Energy

Mareike, web editor aboard the Rainbow Warrior, give us an update on from the Philippines about how the 'Quit Coal' tour is progressing.

Burning coal accounts globally for over 70 per cent of CO2 pollution from power generation and is the greatest single threat to our climate.

That's why the Rainbow Warrior is on a global tour from New Zealand, via the Philippines and Thailand, to the UN climate panel meeting in Poland at the end of this year, promoting a massive uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency and the phase out of coal.

Hot on the heels of Friday's 'Great coal train action' which halted coal shipments to Drax power station for the best part of two days, comes news of more anti-coal activity. Early this morning climate campaigners from 'Leave it in the Ground' occupied UK Coal's Lodge House site in Derbyshire where a new open cast coal mine is planned, and the rural lanscape is about to be devastated by huge earth-movers.

Thirty climate campaigners today stopped a coal train on its way to Drax power station in Yorkshire, Britain's single largest source of CO2 emissions. Dressed in white overalls and canary outfits, they used safety signals to stop the train at a bridge on a branch line used exclusively by the power station, before jumping aboard and shovelling coal off onto the tracks. Some used climbing ropes to suspend themselves under the bridge from the train, making it impossible to move the train while the protest continues.