Greenpeace Statement On Patrick Moore

Patrick Moore Background Information
http://goo.gl/uV31XT

Greenpeace Statement On Patrick Moore
October 10, 2008
http://goo.gl/bKZlvT

Deep Green: Science and Rhetoric, Patrick Moore's Confessions
April 7, 2011 
http://goo.gl/G5s9IZ

Patrick Moore on the facts and fiction of climate change
August 9, 2012 
http://goo.gl/MaOw2y

Greenpeace urges Hong Kong government to drop Nuclear power expansion

Greenpeace urges govt to drop N-power expansion
2/29/2012
By Fan Feifei (HK Edition)
China Daily


Greenpeace on Tuesday called upon the government to drop all plans for nuclear power expansion, and to review the "Daya Bay Contingency Plan" immediately. 


The environmental group said there is a lesson to be learned from the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year on March 11. The disaster at the Fukushima reactor triggered off an earthquake and a tsunami.



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http://www.facebook.com/nukefree



The report, released by the organization indicated that the Japanese government's insistence of setting a 20 kilometer (km) evacuation zone was insufficient. Greenpeace also said there was not enough care for the victims affected by the nuclear leak.


Greenpeace underlined that though Japan was considered one of the best-prepared countries in the world for handling nuclear disasters, the reality of the Fukushima disaster proved to be far worse than any disaster plan or nuclear evacuation plan had anticipated.


The organization said Daya Bay nuclear plant had a similar contingency plan to its Japanese counterpart, namely, full countermeasures to be invoked within a 20 km radius around the nuclear power stations in the unlikely event of a serious nuclear accident.


Prentice Koo, Greenpeace senior campaigner, said Hong Kong has less preparation compared with Japan. He also noticed that the densely packed population of Hong Kong might result in more serious incidents.


"This report shows that nuclear energy is inherently unsafe. Nuclear power must be phased out and replaced with smart investments in energy efficiency and renewable power", said Koo.


Koo added, "this approach will create millions of sustainable jobs, improve energy independence, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and will also ensure people will never again suffer radioactive fallout from a preventable disaster".


The organization appealed to Chief Executive candidates to learn from the Fukushima experience, and to formulate more safe energy policies, leading Hong Kong to a sustainable future without nuclear energy.


The environment group also suggested the Security Bereau improve the Daya Bay contingency plan and invite the public to participate in the related formulation.


The Security Bereau said it had set up the advisory panel to make an overall review of the Daya Bay contingency plan since last year and the panel mainly checked the renewal of the infrastructure and safety measures at the Daya Bay nuclear plant.


The group included official members and unofficial members from medical, nuclear power, engineering, atmospheric science, radiology and other sectors.


The Security Bereau still considers the 20 kilometers evacuation zone around nuclear power stations to be sufficient.


The organization also provided mobile phone applications for testing the distance between the users and the location of Daya Bay nuclear plant and then decide where to move in case of disasters.

Greenpeace on China Climate Change Policy By The Diplomat

Greenpeace on China By The Diplomat
December 20, 2011 


The Diplomat speaks with Li Yan, head of Greenpeace East Asia’s Climate and Energy Campaign, to discuss China’s climate change policy.


What are your thoughts on the recent climate change accord reached in Durban? Do you feel it’s a good step towards a comprehensive treaty or a step in the wrong direction?



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The world urgently needs a fair, ambitious and legally binding (FAB) deal to prevent climate catastrophe. Copenhagen should have delivered that deal.  After two years in Durban there was some progress towards a FAB deal, with the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period confirmed. Countries also agreed to start negotiating for a new legally binding treaty that applies to all countries, including China, India and the U.S., which needs to be sealed no later than 2015. 


As to the second part of your question: Yes,this is the right direction, and global climate negotiation now enters a new era. However, the process laid out in Durban is worryingly slow and with fatal loopholes. If this next big climate deal will be applicable only “from 2020,” as the U.S. inserted in the Durban agreement, it can easily be delayed for more than a decade and we risk missing the window of opportunity to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. 


The process to agree a comprehensive global climate treaty needs to be accelerated, and countries registered in such a binding treaty must honor their commitment.


China is now the world’s leading emitter of CO2. Do you feel China is doing enough to limit and lower such emissions? Do you feel China is taking adequate steps to tackle its global contribution to climate change? What steps would you recommend that China take to reduce or lower its CO2 emissions?


China has made impressive efforts to cut back its carbon emission growth, and it’s fair to say that China is doing much better than many other countries, including industrialized ones. However, with the rapid growth of emissions, China needs – and has the capability – to do more.


China’s 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010) set binding targets to save energy and cut back traditional pollutant emissions. According to official calculations, this has led to 1.5 billion tons in carbon emission reductions. It was a good starting point and has sent a strong political signal to the government system, though at the end of 11th Five Year Plan, the final progress was quite difficult. But China almost achieved its 20 percent energy intensity reduction objective. 


However in the 12th Five Year Plan, starting this year, the central government set an energy intensity reduction target at 16 percent (by end of 2015 based on 2010 levels) and a carbon intensity target of 17 percent. These goals aren’t ambitious enough. This isn’t sufficient to force local governments and industries to shift away from energy intensive growth models. Partly as a result of this rather low target, the first 10 months of 2011 only saw an energy intensity reduction of 1.6 percent, falling far behind the scheduled 3.5 percent reduction benchmark supposed to be achieved as the first year of the latest plan. There will be more difficulties for China in delivering its targets if it can’t put a brake on its fast expansion of energy intensive industries and booming coal consumption. 


Coal burning is the biggest single source of CO2 emissions in China. With heavy reliance on coal burning as an energy source – it accounts for around 70 percent of energy demands – China is now facing severe environmental and social problem as well as growing energy security concerns. Moving away from coal and introducing more renewable energy into its energy mix is an unavoidable direction for China. One ongoing discussion is whether or not China can, step by step, put absolute limits on its coal consumption.


China is also expanding the amount of nuclear power plants it operates. Do you feel China can adequately secure and store the nuclear waste that will result?


Nuclear is deemed by many in China as the clean energy solution, but it’s not. Environmental and safety issues must be taken into consideration in China’s ambitious nuclear development plan.


There is currently no clear law or regulation to manage nuclear power development and mitigate its risk. The nuclear safety code is still being compiled after Fukushima. The Fukushima tragedy was another sad example of the fact that there’s barely anything humanity can do to stop the dangerous impact of a nuclear plant accident caused by natural disasters. China’s newly designed plants are mostly located near large populations, and under climate change circumstances, extreme weather events could be more frequent and severe, which makes it even more risky and challenging to ensure public safety. 


Much has been made in the west of China's investments in “green energy.”  Do you feel China has assumed a leadership role in green technology? Do you feel China can use such technology to make a dent in its CO2 emissions?


According to a recent U.N. Environment Program report, China has surpassed the United States in renewable energy investment in 2010, making it now the world’s largest. This has created a buzz that China is leading the race to renewable energies. Clearly, China is taking the lead in many areas of green energy development. In 2010, China’s wind power installation capacity was about 42GW, which places China as the biggest installation country globally.


Most of the renewable energy installation is in western areas, since the natural sources are better than the eastern parts.


However, there are still bottlenecks that stop China from being an even bigger utilizer of renewable energy. The biggest one is the difficulty in grid access. Nearly 30 percent of wind turbines established have no access to the state grid, and similar problems are emerging in solar power generation as well. Technology isn’t the problem, but more the lack of willingness and action from the grid company. If China could solve the grid connection issue, renewable energy will play a more important role in China’s energy mix, which will definitely contribute to its CO2 reduction.