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## Nachricht vom 02.11.98, erstellt von greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org
## weitergeleitet durch Klaus Merkle
## PMs zum Inhalt bitte an den Ersteller, Brett-Mail ans Gruppenbrett



GREENPEACE SCALES OBELISK TO DEMAND REAL PROGRESS FROM CLIMATE
SUMMIT

Buenos Aires, November 2nd,  1998. Greenpeace climbers this
morning scaled the 70 meter Obelisk in the center of  Buenos
Aires displaying their demands for international climate
negotiations starting today in the Argentinean capital. The
climbers entered Argentina's main national monument and
displayed a banner reading "Save the Climate -clean energy now"
supported by five huge windmills which Greenpeace action teams
installed around the monument overnight.

The protest comes at the opening of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which will continue until
November 13th. "The key question is whether governments will
support renewable energy solutions to climate change or whether
they will continue to pay lip service only and protect fossil
fuel and nuclear interests" said Corin Millais, renewable energy
campaigner with Greenpeace International.

"There is a real danger here, that a thick blanket of jargon and
details will pave the way for more coal, more oil and more nukes
which will further delay the necessary phase-out of fossil
fuels. We know already that we can only burn a quarter of the
known fossil fuel reserves if we want to avoid dangerous climate
change" said Millais.  

High on the agenda are the inclusion of forests which may absorb
some carbon dioxide (CO 2), the extend to which industrialised
countries can trade carbon emissions among themselves and the
design of a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM is
supposed to transfer money and technology to the developing
world in order to improve energy efficiency, resulting in cost-
efficient greenhouse gas reductions. 

But the CDM can be a new polluting tool. To be environmentally
sound, it must supply massive support for renewable energy forms
to meet the demands of the developing world. However, the
mechanism can be abused as well, providing an option for 
industries to dump nuclear and fossil fuel power stations in the
developing world. In the worst case,  the United States for
example could build nuclear and marginally improved coal power
plants abroad which are not acceptable domestically and in
return receive credits to increase their domestic CO2 emissions.

"Greenpeace demands that the CDM is designed as an instrument to
address the problem of climate change and not as an export
subsidy for ailing industries in  industrialised countries. That
means support for renewable energy such as  windpower and solar
and no money for nuclear and misleadingly named clean-coal power
plants"  said Millais.

The concept of acquiring carbon credits by planting trees is
equally problematic. While the general idea looks like a win-win
concept, quite the opposite may be the effect. Under present
regulations, the concept could actually provide an incentive for
countries to cut down valuable old-growth forest and replacing
it with fast growing eucalyptus trees. "The scientific basis for
an inclusion of trees into the protocol is simply not there and
it does not tackle the main problem which are rising CO2
emissions" says Bill Hare, head of the Greenpeace delegation in
Buenos Aires. "You don't start digging a well in your yard if
your house is already on fire", said Hare who opposes inclusion
of premature forest projects before a proper scientific
assessment by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
has been finalised. 

Finally, the conference will discuss how much of the reductions
each country will have to achieve domestically. At present, the
free for all trading schemes as proposed by the US could
actually lead to further emissions of  CO2. They provide an
incentive for some countries to inflate emission targets in
order to convert the difference between real and projected
emissions into hard currencies. Russia alone could look at a
windfall profit of several billion dollars if they trade their
high allowance to the carbon-hungry US.           -end-

visit the Greenpeace webpage on http://www.greenpeace.org