press releases

Greenpeace representatives in dinner jackets and bow ties were today ejected from BP's London headquarters after attempting to present the British oil giant with the first annual "Emerald Paintbrush" award.

Security guards threw out the smartly dressed protestors after they staged an impromptu awards ceremony in the lobby of the building.

Greenpeace plans to award the new prize each year to any company it deems guilty of hiding its environmental impact with misleading advertising.

Commenting on today's announcement of the EU fishing quotas, which has flown in the face of science by allowing an increase in the amount of North Sea cod which can be caught, Greenpeace oceans campaigner Willie Mackenzie said:

"Today's announcement is disastrous for the fishing industry. The cod quota could lead to fishermen fishing themselves out of a job, because these catch levels could see an end to North Sea cod.

A letter from the Crown Prosecution Service to lawyers for Greenpeace reveals that the Attorney-General is close to referring the case of the Kingsnorth Six to the Court of Appeal in an effort to remove the defence of ‘lawful excuse' from activists.

The Kingsnorth Six faced a charge of criminal damage at Maidstone crown court in September. A year earlier the Greenpeace volunteers had entered Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent before scaling the chimney, closing the station and painting Gordon Brown's name down the smokestack.

European Leaders lack both the vision and the political will to get a deal for the climate in Copenhagen, Greenpeace warned today.

Commenting on the climate deal agreed in Brussels, Robin Oakley, Greenpeace UK climate campaigner, said:

NGOs across Europe united today to warn their political leaders that horse trading and diplomatic brinkmanship could destroy a historic package of measures aimed at tackling climate change.

Representatives from the Climate Action Network, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have sent a joint letter to the heads of Europe's main institutions demanding that leaders have the courage to face down those countries determined to massively weaken the climate change deal.

The most recent draft of the package, if accepted, would result in a totally inadequate deal:

Reacting to this morning's protest at Stansted, a Greenpeace spokesperson said:

"The climate change secretary Ed Miliband called for a Suffragette-style movement to pressure governments to act. Well, he got his wish. The Suffragettes were disruptive and lambasted by the establishment of the day, but have been utterly vindicated by history, and no doubt it will be the same with Plane Stupid.

Reacting to news that an announcement on Heathrow expansion has been postponed until next month, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:

"The pro-runway faction in government is on the run. There's been whispered talk of a cabinet split for weeks, but now it's bursting into the open as more ministers realise that the business case for expansion is deeply flawed while the environmental case for blocking a new runway is overwhelming."

Lord Turner's Committee on Climate Change today recommended that new coal plants are not built in the UK unless they can capture all of their emissions by the early 2020s. If accepted by the Government, the proposal would kill controversial plans by German energy giant Eon to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent. 

John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace - which has led the campaign against Kingsnorth - said today: 

CLIMATE BILL

Reacting to reports that emissions from aviation and shipping will be included in the Climate Bill, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said: