It's been a long time since there were polar bears at London Zoo, but the famous attraction still houses many other species which are threatened by the effects of climate change. So I can't help but wonder whether this fact registered with Gordon Brown (himself an endangered species) as he stood up at the zoo to present his blueprint for a global climate action plan. Read more »

Two breaking stories neatly illustrate the flawed logic which still lurks at the heart of UK energy policy. First up is that German energy utility RWE's bid to build a new nuclear plant near Kirksanton in Cumbria will mean dismantling an existing wind farm on the site. While at the other end of the country, 600 workers at the Vestas Blades wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight could be facing redundancy.

Stability, growth, jobs all good - but where's the climate leadership? CC Image from London Summit on Flickr

Well, there we go. After the media circus, the protests, and a conference so exclusive that even some NGO participants were banned at the last minute, the G20 have pronounced, and it turns out that their environmental leadership is... er... down at the bottom of the document somewhere.

It's nice to believe that for one beautiful moment there was the chance to extract ourselves from the economic mess we've stumbled into, and at the same time create the foundations for the difficult but necessary tasks of addressing climate change.

Like helping China and India find a model for development which doesn't go hand in hand with rapidly rising carbon emissions, for example, or restructuring the way we ‘do business as usual' in the UK and taking advantage of our relative wealth to harness wind, wave and solar power (along with a whole heap of other clean technologies).

But it turns out that our leaders have dropped the ball completely. Read more »

Martin Butcher gives his reaction to the Prime Minister's recent policy speech on the future of Britain's nuclear arsenal. Martin is a consultant on international security issues and a Nato policy analyst for the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. This article first appeared in Comment is Free on 17th March.

Gordon Brown's speech today at Lancaster House exposed a fundamental contradiction at the heart of government policy on non-proliferation. The prime minister sees the importance of a world free of nuclear weapons because it is the only way of guaranteeing "that our children and grandchildren will be free from the threat of nuclear war". And yet, his government is committed to the development of a new generation of submarine-based nuclear weapons to replace Trident, thus maintaining Britain's status as a nuclear weapons state for half a century.

Investing in offshore wind, energy efficiency and renewable electricity links could make us a packet and slash carbon emissions. But the government aren't showing enough ambition

This morning, 'slightly shady' business secretary Peter Mandelson and 'could do better' PM Gordon Brown hosted a low carbon summit to unveil their plans for greening the UK manufacturing sector.

In theory it sounds great. Britain could finally get a bit of the green technology pie, catching up with countries like Germany, where they've created over 250,000 jobs, or the USA, where venture capitalists are flocking to wind and solar start-up companies.

Unfortunately the government's recent attempts at greening the economy have been relatively pathetic. Grand aspirations aren't backed by action. Gordon Brown's recently unveiled financial stimulus package included less investment in a green economy than almost any other G7 country. Oh dear.

Tar sands excavation in northern Canada is a devastating display of the consuming passions of our economy.

Although the global extent, length and depth may be in dispute, everyone agrees the world is suffering a serious financial and economic crisis.

The financial sector in a number of countries, including the US, is close to being technically bankrupt. Beyond the financial sector a number of industries in the UK and elsewhere are teetering on the edge. These include sectors responsible for infrastructure such as transport and telecommunications.

The debts being ratcheted up by some countries will take generations to pay off and in the coming decade will lead to both tax rises and heavy cuts in public expenditure. It's a dramatically changed landscape that will impact hugely on Greenpeace's work along with many other organisations and companies.

So we've heard that, at long last and after much faffing around, the government will finally announce its decision on that third runway tomorrow. I have to add the 'probably' caveat as it's been delayed many times before but I doubt anyone will be slack-jawed if they give Heathrow expansion a big thumbs-up.

Despite the enormity of this decision, and the ramifications for people around the world, Gordon Brown has refused to promise a vote in the Commons on the issue. John Randall MP referred back to the day Plane Stupid sat on the roof of the house when he waggishly reminded Brown what he said at the time.

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With our economy reeling under the worst economic conditions for over a decade, Gordon Brown held a much trumpeted 'jobs summit' today to outline his plans to keep the country at work. Facing the dangerous combination of a credit-fuelled financial crisis, concerns over energy security and prices and accelerating climate change, he has missed an historic opportunity to boost the economy and take an important step towards decarbonising it at the same time.

I've just received an email about this action being spearheaded by the UK Youth Delegation at Poznan. Pick up the phone and make the call!

Right now, Gordon Brown is preparing to meet with other European heads of state to sign a crucial climate change deal. This deal is the first of its kind - and the rest of the world will use this as their example. If it’s not ambitious enough (and all signs point that way) this deal will jeopardise our future.

We have a small window of opportunity to change this. In the next 24 hours let’s get as many of us as possible to call Gordon Brown and ask him for the strong climate deal that we deserve!

1. Call this number - 0207 930 4433 (No.10 switchboard)
2. Say who you are, where you’re from and ask to leave a message for Gordon Brown
3. The operator will tell you that you can’t leave a message and should send a letter instead. Tell him/her that this is urgent, and you want to see Gordon push for a strong climate deal on Thursday
4. Call three friends and get them to call Gordon too
5. Forward this video on to everyone you know
6. Feel warm and fuzzy that you’ve exercised your democratic right!