Reacting to comments by Gordon Brown in his speech to the Labour conference, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:

"If the Climate Change Commission adopts a target of 80 per cent emissions cuts next month, as Brown is now demanding, that will represent a significant defeat for John Hutton. The Business Secretary wants to give the green light to a new unabated coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth as soon as possible, but a new tighter target could snooker him because coal is by far the most polluting fuel. We hope this means Hutton is losing the argument in Cabinet."

He continued:

"If Gordon Brown really wants to end the dictatorship of oil he should invest in rail instead of aviation and demand that car manufacturers make more efficient vehicles. If he really wants to create a million green collar jobs and slash emissions by 80 per cent he should make huge investments in renewables and energy efficiency and build the kind of new super-efficient power stations that are being rolled out across Scandinavia. We've had a decade of rhetoric from Labour on climate change, now it's time for action."

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Responding to comments by business secretary John Hutton indicating strong government support for a third runway at Heathrow, the head of Greenpeace's climate campaign Robin Oakley said:

"It seems John Hutton is incapable of opening his mouth without saying something disastrous for the fight against climate change. We can beat global warming, but not by almost doubling the size of the world's biggest international airport. Environmentalists and local residents are of one voice on Heathrow expansion, this new runway cannot and will not be built."

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Reacting to comments by Business Secretary John Hutton, calling for Britain to become a low carbon economy, Greenpeace climate campaigner Joss Garman said: 

"Labour ministers are extremely good at making speeches like this and extremely bad at actually implementing the kind of changes that would see Britain's economy become a super-efficient low carbon model for the world. John Hutton is currently pushing forward plans to build the UK's first coal-fired power station in decades and his very own department is attempting to sabotage vital European renewable energy efforts at every twist and turn."

ENDS 

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