Coal Clough wind farm, Cumbria

In response to today's announcement by the government that they have rejected plans to build what would have been England's largest windfarm at Whinash in Cumbria, Stephen Tindale, Executive Director of Greenpeace, said:

"Any Government that wants to expand airports and turn down windfarms is simply not fit to govern. It's hard to believe that the nuclear industry has not played some role in this.

"Climate change will ravage beautiful areas like the Lake District. I hope those responsible will be willing to explain to future generations how they played their part in allowing the savage grip of global warming to trash the countryside and claim hundreds of thousands of lives."

For further information please contact Greenpeace Press Office on 0207 865 8255.

Traffic jam

Fuel protestors should stop moaning about the price of petrol and face the fact that we have to rely less on fossil fuels, Greenpeace said today.

As protestors threaten once again to picket refineries, Greenpeace campaigner Mark Strutt said: "Oil causes climate change and we import much of it from unstable regions. It's an inevitable fact of life that the price is going to rise. This price rise is a good thing because it will help reduce consumption, something we have to do as a matter of urgency. We can see the devastating results of climate change all around us as extreme weather events start to increase, just as scientists have been predicting."

Greenpeace urges the government to remain firm and not give in to the self-centred actions of the fuel protestors. Driving is now cheaper than it was in the 1970s in real terms, and motorists can save money by driving more fuel efficient cars and driving less. Hauliers should start looking at alternative fuels such as bio-diesel.

"The fact that sales of gas guzzlers like 4x4's are going through the roof means that fuel can't be that expensive. In the face of climate change you can't drive something that does less than 30 miles to the gallon and moan about the price of fuel," added Mark Strutt.

Greenpeace supports measures that:

• Impose the full environmental cost of driving on the polluter
  
  
• Encourage alternative fuels and more efficient technologies
  
  
• Encourage the government to invest in a fully integrated public transport system

Greenpeace proposals include increasing road tax, increasing fuel duty and introducing congestion charging based on climate pollution impacts of vehicles throughout the UK.

For more contact Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255

A coal power station

Three world leaders in food and soft drinks today promised to phase out the powerful global warming gases, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in their refrigeration equipment (1). The announcement comes 11 years after Greenpeace showed the world that the future of cooling could become climate-friendly.

In a joint conference in Brussels, Unilever, Coca-Cola and McDonald's presented their programme for the beginning of the end of HFCs. Their initiative is supported by Greenpeace and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The companies' pledges are a further response to Greenpeace demands made in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics in 2000, when the global environmental organisation called on each of these market leaders to commit to an HFC-free future. Within a month of Greenpeace launching a hard-hitting consumer campaign, Coca- Cola promised a phase-out in time for the Athens Olympics. Seven years earlier, in 1993, Greenpeace had proved HFCs were unnecessary for refrigeration, when it developed and marketed Greenfreeze, the world's first CFC- and HFC-free refrigerator. Greenfreeze revolutionised the technology and became an industry standard in domestic refrigeration (2).

Gerd Leipold, Executive Director of Greenpeace International said:

"Greenpeace welcomes the commitments made by Unilever, Coca-Cola and McDonald's. We call on their competitors, such as Nestle, Pepsi and Burger King, to follow suit. But corporate action is only half the picture. For a complete solution, governments must act. Politicians can't sit back and wait for the market to deliver, because on its own, it won't."

As of 2005, Unilever Ice-Cream will purchase only HFC-free ice-cream cabinets. Already, some 14,000 units have been replaced. Coca-Cola will convert millions of drinks-vending machines around the world to non-HFC refrigerants. McDonald's will make changes in some 30,000 restaurants, converting its 11 types of refrigeration units - including air-conditioning, walk-in-freezers, salad and drinks coolers - to alternative refrigerants.

Behind all three companies stand major technology suppliers, which have made these technologies available thanks to multi-million-Euro investments. As the companies presented their phase-out strategies at today's conference, the suppliers presented their technologies, based on natural hydrocarbons, CO2 and Stirling.

"But three companies are not going to prevent climate change. At expected rates of usage, by 2050 HFCs will contribute as much to global warming as all the private cars on the planet today," concluded Leipold.

Further information
Please contact Katharine Mill, Greenpeace Media Officer based in Brussels, 0032 496 156 229 or Greenpeace UK Press Office on 0207 865 8255

Greenpeace briefing: "The cool story of the phase out of CFC and HFC in refrigeration" available at www.greenpeace.org.uk or from the Greenpeace Press Office

Notes to Editors:
(1) HFCs are far more potent for global warming than the best-known greenhouse gas, CO2. They were introduced by the chemical industry 15 years ago, around the time CFCs started to be regulated under the Montreal Protocol.
(2) Greenpeace developed the Greenfreeze technology together with the East German company FORON, having opposed the introduction of HFCs from the start. Now an industry standard in Europe, China, Japan, Latin America and Australia, it has sold some 120 million models to date. Outside the US, Greenfreeze established itself as the leading technology for domestic fridges.
(3) Greenpeace demands that:

• Governments phase-out HFCs immediately, or, where no immediate substitutes exist, specific phase-out dates are fixed. No time frame should exceed five years.
• Governments tax the use of HFCs until phase-out. The tax would be based on global warming potential and, thus, on environmental impact of applications.
• The Parties to the Montreal Protocol stop the funding of HFC projects through the Multilateral Fund and dramatically accelerate the phase-out of HCFCs. Governments establish a compensatory fund into which HFC-producers pay, to compensate for environmental and human health cost arising from the extensive use of HFCs.
• The European Union introduce immediate phase-out dates for HFCs in all applications in its proposed Fluorinated Gases Regulation.

   

Publication date: September 2000

Summary
The risk to our climate

• The majority of the world's carbon pollution comes from oil products like petrol and diesel. We can avoid a runaway greenhouse effect but only if we break our addiction to fossil fuels and make the transition to an economy run on renewable energy and hydrogen.
• Fossil fuel use is already changing our climate. The arctic ice cap has already thinned from 10ft to 6ft in the last 20 years as a result of warmer seas. Scientists predict that the entire polar ice cap could disappear every summer within the next 50 years....

wind turbines at sunset

The UK wind industry had a massive boost today when the Crown Estate gave the green light to 18 new offshore wind farms around the coast of England and Wales, with the combined potential to supply one million homes.

The 18 new sites could generate 1,620 MegaWatts of green electricity, which would quadruple the UK's total current wind energy output. They will cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, by 4.27 million tonnes each year, and create at least 8,000 jobs in the UK, with the potential to create a further 28,000 jobs if turbine factories are established in Britain.

The UK is one of the windiest countries in Europe. Offshore wind alone could supply all our electricity needs three times over. Wind energy is clean and green - and crucially doesn't threaten the world's climate.

Matthew Spencer, Head of Greenpeace's Climate Campaign, said, "After thirty years of opposing industrial abuse of our seas, Greenpeace can at last welcome a move to exploit the fantastic renewable energy resources off our coastline. After the grim news of Bush's climate climbdown, we finally have some good news for the environment."

"Let's hope this signals a new commitment to developing Britain's renewable energy industry. Britain has always lagged behind other European countries in renewable energy, but now we've got a real hope of being up with the leaders. Today's announcement will show Bush and his oil cronies that Britain is serious about tackling climate change - and about lessening our dependence on fossil fuels."

Notes to Editors:

• A map showing the locations of the new windfarms is available from the Crown Estate.
• Photos and footage of offshore wind farms are available from the Greenpeace Press Office: tel. 020 7865 8294.
• You can download a background briefing on offshore wind by clicking on 'full report' at the top of this page. The file is prepared as a PDF. The briefing covers wind power potential globally and for the UK, industrial and employment opportunities, other countries' plans and targets for wind energy, and obstacles to fulfilling the UK's potential.
• A square sea area with sides 77 miles long could provide as much electricity as the current UK supply.
• Greenpeace, with RSPB, WWF, CPRE, The Wildlife Trusts, Friends of the Earth and Green Alliance, jointly called on the Government to adopt a General Election manifesto pledge to allocate £00 million per year to support offshore wind power.
• Greenpeace launched a major campaign to promote offshore wind power. 'The Wind' a short film by Director Julien Temple, with voiceovers by Rachel Wise and John Hurt, was shown at over a hundred cinemas around the UK as a trailer to Universal's blockbuster Bridget Jones's Diary, which was launched in April.