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International Student Leadership Conference, Bristol 2008
Stakeholder name
Radical Environmental Group – [Greenpeace UK]
Background information
 An independent, non-profit organization that campaigns for positive change to
protect the natural world and promote peace.
 Originally known as ‘Greenpeace Foundation’ and was initially founded in
Vancouver, Canada, in 1971, to oppose the USA testing nuclear devices in
Alaska before it changed its focus to the environment.
 Campaigning methods: peaceful actions, careful research and lobbying
 Grown to become a global environmental organization with offices in over 40
countries, including UK and Hong Kong.
 Socially responsible for carbon emissions because it raises awareness about
the causes of global warming, like climate change.
The different environmental aspects that they look at:
Climate change – reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to prevent global warming
Forests – ending illegal logging to protect the animals that live there
Oceans – ending destructive fish practices to protect the sea creatures
Nuclear Power – ending the release of radioactive waste
Peace – ending the nuclear threat that causes war
Genetically modified food – encouraging natural and organic farming
Toxic chemicals – working for a “toxic free” future
Past environmental actions
 Protested against an expansion of the Heathrow airport (link). They had a
“Paper plane flashmob” outside the building of the Department of Transport
(link link link) and managed to delay the plans (link)
 “Quit Coal” – Greenpeace blocked coal shipments in an attempt to prevent the
spread of coal power plants. Activists created a banner that read “Quit Coal”.
 European supermarkets – Since October, 2005, Greenpeace UK published a
list of the best UK supermarkets ranked according to their seafood policies.
Since then, various Greenpeace European countries including Austria,
Netherlands and Germany have done the same. This provided supermarkets
with an incentive to participate in the sustainable seafood campaign.
 World Park Antarctica – Since 1985, Greenpeace has worked very hard to
keep Antarctica free from human interference to preserve the natural habitat.
At last, Greenpeace’s efforts have bore fruitful results as Antarctica was
recently declared a “world park”.
Current environmental actions (link)
 A guide on saving the climate (“Join the Energy [R]evolution”). Teaches you
how to save energy at home, in the bathroom, when cooking, etc.
 Accusing G8 of not cutting down carbon (link link)
 Energy efficient lightbulbs – encouraging people to use CFL (Compact
Fluorescent Lightbulbs)
 Prevent aviation industry from emitting too much carbon (eg. Heathrow
airport link)
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International Student Leadership Conference, Bristol 2008
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Road transport – promoting cleaner alternatives to fuels
No to coal
No to nuclear
International negotiations
- eg. UN Climate Talks – At the 2007 UN Climate Talks in Vienna,
Austria, Greenpeace activists protested to prevent global average
climate rise within 2ºC. They also reminded governments to honour
their promises made 15 years ago to prevent global warming.
Greenpeace demanded 50% global reductions in carbon emissions by
2050, based on the average global temperature in 1990. It also wanted
developing countries to cut at least 30% of their carbon emissions by
2020, and 80% by 2050, according to the temperature in 1990 as well.
Expeditions and special projects – to raise awareness, eg. “Yellow River
Source Expedition” reveals the consequences of global warming on one of
China’s most important rivers.
Olympics
- Greenpeace has cooperated with the Olympics Organizing Committees
of the Sydney (2000) Olympics and Athens (2004) Olympics.
Greenpeace uses the Olympics Games as an a golden opportunity to
draw global attention on environmental issues.
- Greenpeace works with China to create a “green Olympics legacy”.
- Greenpeace will use the Beijing Olympics to introduce green
technology.
- It has persuaded Coca-Cola Company to provide climate-friendly
fridges.
- Encourages public participation and has held a “Bring Your Own
Chopsticks” campaign to reduce the use of disposable chopsticks.
- Two senior BOCOG officials and notable table tennis star, Deng Ya
Ping, support Greenpeace’s energy efficient light bulb project in
Beijing.
“Clean Water for China” campaign
- Aim to halve the number of people in China who don’t have access to
clean, sanitized water by 2015.
- Greenpeace participated in the International Conference on Public
Participation in Environmental Protection that took place in Beijing on
April 25.
Kyoto Protocol
- Greenpeace produced an excellent and feasible proposal to stop
deforestation, which accounts for about 20% of greenhouse emissions,
for the Kyoto Protocol. The proposal raised funding of several billion
US$ per year.
Planned future environmental actions
 Found a “surprising solution” to reducing carbon emissions – industrial CHP
(“combined heat and power” see: link) By using more of the energy in the
fuel, CHP can double the useful output from the power station this increasing
efficiency and lowering emissions and decreasing our dependence on fossil
fuels (link)
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Aims to completely halt the destuction of the world’s rainforests by 2015 –
announced in a UN conference in May, 08.
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International Student Leadership Conference, Bristol 2008
Criticisms of Greenpeace
Various organizations have criticized Greenpeace’s actions to achieve its aims;
leading to various controversies.
Some questionable actions include:
 Coral destruction – Greenpeace was responsible for damaging about 100
square meters of coral in 2005.
 Removal of ancient tree – Greenpeace deliberately removed an ancient tree
and placed it on exhibition.
 Mistaken publication – Greenpeace’s published photo of a deforested area in
Germany, 2005, was actually only a swamp.
 Extreme scare-campaigning – Greenpeace spoke of terrible horrors of the
Chernobyl nuclear accident in 2006, later claiming that it was a joke.
Validity
The above information is obtained both from the information published by
Greenpeace and also the articles from Wikipedia. I have noticed that Greenpeace
focuses more on its positive side and rarely on its negative mistakes whereas
Wikipedia provides more neutral, factual information.
Sources
 Videos:
“The Convenient Solution”
“Climate Change Hits Glastonbury”
About Combined Heat & Power
Renewable Energy at Manchester City
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About: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/about
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Climate change: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate
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News: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media
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Current Environmental Actions: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/what-you-cando/take-action
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Tagged articles:
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/tags/climate-change
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/tags/renewable-energy
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Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpeace
Other possible sources [how can we contact them]
Address (UK):
Greenpeace, Canonbury Villas, London, N1 2PN
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 020 7865 8100
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International Student Leadership Conference, Bristol 2008
Address (HK):
8/F, Pacific Plaza, 410-418 Des Voeux Road West, Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Tel : +852 2854 8300
Fax : +852 2745 2426
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