A vessel carrying coal from South Africa, the Gallia Graeca, was the centre of a Greenpeace action on Friday to demand action against climate change.
Environmental activists painted “G8: FAILED” on the side of the vessel, lying in anchor off the coast of Italy — where Group of Eight (G8) leaders met this week — to demand climate leadership from the G8 countries.
The Greenpeace stunt immediately drew attention to the South African economy’s reliance on coal. The Gallia Graeca was carrying South Africa-mined coal from Richards Bay to Italy’s Civitavecchia power station. The vessel had not yet unloaded her coal.
Greenpeace estimated that she was carrying just more than 25Â 000 tonnes of coal after checking Lloyd’s registry. The stunt was part of countrywide climate-change protests in Italy, which included activists taking over power stations.
Greenpeace’s actions come during a week of intense environmental lobbying at the G8 in L’Aquila, Italy, by concerned NGOs, who believe that developed countries are not doing enough to push for an ambitious agreement to tackle climate change at the end of the year in Copenhagen, Denmark.
On Wednesday, the G8 had agreed to cut their greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. But failure to reach an accord on shorter-term targets, such as what will they by 2020 and 2030, has been slammed all over the world.
Commentators have described the lack of progress as disastrous for the negotiations in Copenhagen. The G8’s lack of commitment had led developing nations, such as India and China, to shy away from making their own commitments.
South Africa is a member of the G5 countries, which include Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa. The countries are seen as crucial to help craft a climate-change deal at the end of the year in Copenhagen.
But South Africa’s role is even more crucial, because it is a strong voice in Africa, which will suffer some of the worst impacts of climate change
Greenpeace specifically targeted a coal vessel in order to highlight the role fossil fuels play in driving climate change. Almost a third of all carbon-dioxide emissions come from burning coal, said South African Greenpeace spokesperson Fiona Musa. “It is used to produce nearly 40% of the world’s power, and hundreds of new coal plants are planned over the next years if the industry gets its way.”
She said that apart from affecting climate change, coal also causes irreparable damage to the environment, people’s health and communities in the developing world.
President Jacob Zuma’s delegation, which included Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, arrived at the G8 on Wednesday. Zuma returns home later on Friday. South Africa, who had been a strong commentator on previous ministerial level climate-change negotiations, was not as forceful this time round, delegates told the Mail & Guardian.
“Your new minister of environment is definitely still finding her feet,” a European Union delegate told the M&G.
Greenpeace called on Zuma and other African leaders who are in Italy to demand action and financial support to enable Africa to invest in renewable energy and energy-efficient sources, and to take the opportunity of creating green jobs.
“By failing to commit to the crucial mid-term targets and the $106-billion that needs to be provided annually to help developing countries tackle climate change and fund forest protection, they have failed to agree on the most important building blocks to gain an historical agreement at the Copenhagen UN Climate Summit, which is just 150 days away,” said Greenpeace political adviser Tobias Muenchmeyer, who is at the G8 meeting.
Across Italy, more than 100 activists have occupied, painted, blocked and hung off cranes at five Italian coal-fired power stations, pointing to coal as the world’s worst climate killer, and calling for G8 leadership. Greenpeace activists are still occupying two of the power stations, but end their protest on Friday when the G8 meeting ends.
“While Greenpeace has been demonstrating what real climate action looks like, G8 inaction has brought the world one step closer to catastrophic climate change. They are hiding their lack of leadership behind hollow words and empty gestures,” said Julien Vincent, of Greenpeace Australia, from on top of the Brindisi coal plant chimney.
“We call on all people to take whatever peaceful action they can to compel their leaders to deliver strong targets for cutting greenhouse gases before the new climate treaty is negotiated in December.”
The G8 countries emit about 40% of global CO2 emissions, despite being home to only 13% of the world’s population.