Edinburgh garage: leaflets
Picture opportunity:
The Greenpeace Green Garage is a disused garage which has been made over by Greenpeace volunteers to look just like a real petrol station, complete with pumps, attendants and a price sign. Greenpeace will be dispensing free green fuel to motorists from 9.30 - 4.30.
The Green Garage is at Ferry Road (corner of Boswall Drive), Inverleith
Greenpeace is today (5 March 2001) giving away thousands of litres of green fuel to motorists in Inverleith. The Greenpeace Green Garage is dispensing bio-diesel - a plant-based fuel that is identical to ordinary diesel but causes only half the damage to the climate. Bio-diesel is widely used in the US, Germany and France, and is guaranteed safe for British motorists, but is not commercially available in the UK, despite the fact that Britain exports vegetable oil to France for bio-diesel production [2].
The action highlights Greenpeace's campaign for tax cuts on genuine green fuels like bio-diesel, hydrogen and green electricity. Chancellor Gordon Brown has promised to reduce the duty on certain 'green' fuels in Wednesday's Budget announcement. However campaigners are concerned he may pick the wrong fuels. Ultra-low sulphur diesel and unleaded petrol are NOT green fuels, because they are based on oil and therefore increase the risk of climate change, meaning more storms and floods.
Laura Yates, Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace, said, "We are giving away free bio-diesel - one of the genuine green alternatives to the oil-based fuels that are causing climate change, storms and floods. Gordon Brown should use this week's budget to give a boost to real green fuels, not cut the tax on fuels that are wrecking the climate."
Anyone driving a diesel vehicle - including private cars, taxis, buses and trucks - is welcome to come and fill their tanks for free.
Further information:
Greenpeace Press Office: 020 7865 8283
Notes for Editors:
Bio-diesel is widely available in Germany and France at about 45p a litre. In most European countries bio-diesel is zero-rated for tax purposes. In the UK bio-diesel is taxed at the same rate as petro-diesel. No UK filling stations supply the fuel, despite the fact that Britain is a major producer of rapeseed oil. Much of the UK crop is exported to make bio-diesel in France.
