In their joint statement, ministers from the four leading emerging economies called for meetings of the climate convention’s working groups on long-term co-operative action and the Kyoto Protocol to be held in March 2010. They also want the working groups to meet at least five times before the next major UN climate conference which is scheduled to start on 29 November 2010, in Mexico.

The Ministers underlined that UN climate talks occupy a central position and they called for all negotiations to be conducted in an inclusive and transparent manner. They also outlined their desire for better South-South scientific co-operation and support for vulnerable countries to adapt to climate change.Greenpeace is encouraged by the willingness of the BASIC group to support vulnerable countries, both by ensuring their participation in open and transparent negotiations and by providing technological and or financial support.

However, Greenpeace is calling on the BASIC countries to make this support more tangible by the time of its next meeting that the South African government is to host in April 2010.

Greenpeace also noted the further consolidation of the BASIC countries as a group and urges them to assume the responsibilities that go with an alliance of such influential economic powers.
Though the BASIC countries demonstrating leadership in furthering negotiations on a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement, Greenpeace wants them to exert pressure on industrialised counties tourgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make their own appropriate contributions in emission reductions.

“Continued inaction by governments would allow global warming to engulf us all,” said Siddharth Pathak, Climate and Energy Policy Officer, Greenpeace India. “If we are to keep this demon at bay and avoid dangerous climate change, industrialised countries must cut their emissions together, 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and provide massive financial and technological support to enable developing nations as a whole to reduce their projected growth in emissions by 15-30% over the same timescale. It’s not easy but the consequences of failure would be among our worst nightmares,” he said.

The four 'Red Carpet Activists', from the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, were arrested following a peaceful protest at the start of a State Banquet hosted by Queen Margret the II for world leaders attending the Copenhagen climate summit. The four activists are: Juan A Lopez de Uralde, (Spanish), Executive Director, Greenpeace Spain Nora Christiansen, (Norwegian), Development Manager, resident in Denmark Christian Schmutz, (Swiss), Greenpeace Switzerland Joris Thijssen, (Dutch), Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace International Photographer: © Klaus Holsting/ Greenpeace

Copenhagen, 6 January 2010 – Danish police today released from custody four Greenpeace climate protesters who have endured 20 days of pre-trial detention in Copenhagen prison following a harmless peaceful protest staged on the evening of 17 December. Their release comes a day in advance of their detention being reviewed by a Danish judge. The four activists still face trial in the Danish courts, and possible prison sentences.

The four “Red Carpet Activists”, from the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, were arrested following a peaceful protest at the start of a State Banquet hosted by Queen Margrethe II for world leaders attending the Copenhagen climate summit. Mads Christensen, Executive Director, Greenpeace Nordic, welcomed their release from custody but was scathing of the Danish authorities. He said, “The unnecessary imprisonment of these four peaceful activists has effectively been punishment without trial. It has piled a further ‘climate injustice’ on top of world leaders’ failure to agree a legally binding treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The alleged ‘crime’ is that the Four aimed to impress upon world leaders the urgency of acting to prevent catastrophic climate change. The length of their detention without trial is out of all proportion to what was a simple and harmless protest with a legitimate objective.”

Following the arrests of the Four, Greenpeace guaranteed – as it does in cases where volunteers are involved in peaceful protests – that, if the activists were released, they would voluntarily return to Copenhagen to stand trial. To further facilitate the police investigation, Greenpeace consistently offered its full co-operation to Danish police and provided them with comprehensive details of the activity. A request from Greenpeace asking the Danish police to specify what additional information they needed to know in connection with the case was met with two weeks of silence on the part of the police. Only on Tuesday 5 January, did Danish police finally request the names of other individuals who had been in the Greenpeace ‘motorcade’ on 17 December. Today, these individuals volunteered their details, removing the last conceivable reason for detention.

On the evening of 17 December 2009, three of the activists posing as a ‘Head of State of the Natural Kingdom’, his ‘wife’ and a security detail were waved through the security cordon around the Heads of State banquet, that was held immediately prior to the crucial final day of the Copenhagen climate summit. The ‘Head of State’ and his ‘wife’ unfurled banners reading, “Politicians Talk, Leaders Act”. A fourth activist was later arrested. The protest was far from a sophisticated operation. It relied entirely on simple, readily available materials and had elements of farce. For instance, Greenpeace logos displayed on the windscreens of vehicles hired by Greenpeace to arrive at the banquet were in one case wedged in place by a pair of socks. One of the car number plates included “007″ – a reference to James Bond. Blue ‘police’ lights on top of another vehicle were purchased for DKK 50 (Euro 6.70) via the internet.

Leaders failed to heed Greenpeace’s call. The Copenhagen climate summit ended in failure by agreeing only to note the ‘Copenhagen Accord’, an empty document containing no legally binding commitments for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the summit being seen as the moment for decisive action, world leaders failed to set legally binding targets to prevent the Earth from warming more than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. Beyond this crucial threshold, global warming’s impacts are expected to severely affect the survival and wellbeing of millions of people and countless species.

British human rights lawyer Richard Harvey questioned whether such detention is in line with European and international norms. Harvey said, “The Danish authorities must regard legitimate protest as an essential element of democratic discourse and freedom of expression. Such prolonged pre-trial detention appears to be a flagrant violation of key articles of international human rights agreements requiring those awaiting trial to be released when they guarantee to appear in court and for them to be entitled to trial within a reasonable time.” The Danish situation is in stark contrast to that in the United States where, on Monday 4 January 2010, 11 Greenpeace activists were sentenced for a climate protest staged in July 2009 at the Mount Rushmore national monument.

Their banner, placed alongside the image of President Lincoln, carried the face of President Obama and the text, “America Honors Leaders, Not Politicians. Stop Global Warming”. The court in South Dakota allowed the activists to return home pending trial. This also included an activist resident in the Netherlands. In sentencing the activists, the judge in South Dakota noted the care exercised by the activists, their motivations and the tradition of peaceful protest in the United States. The sentences ranged from 50-100 hours of community service to a maximum of two days in jail.

Over 100 Greenpeace staff and supporters holding banners reading “Freedom From Climate Injustice” took part in the vigil where the activists are being held in isolation and without trial.

“Copenhagen has become a ‘climate crime scene’ after over 120 Heads of State squandered an historic opportunity to agree a climate saving deal,” said Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International Executive Director.

“While the perpetrators of the real crime fled the country on private jets, it is shocking that the Danish authorities have decided to detain, without trial, four peaceful protesters over Christmas.”

“Their families will spend a bleak festive season knowing that their loved ones will be languishing in isolation for acting to save the climate. For standing up in defense of the hundreds of millions of people and countless species which will be severely affected by catastrophic climate change.”

All three activists have children at home who will be missing a parent this Christmas. The activists – Juan Lopez de Uralde, Nora Christiansen and Christian Schmutz – are the climate heroes who brought home to world leaders attending last Thursday’s banquet with Queen Margrethe the message that leaders were failing the climate.

The activists joined Heads of State from over 120 countries en route to the banquet at the Danish Parliament. Arriving in a three-vehicle convoy, immediately in front of Hilary Clinton, a Greenpeace ‘Head of State’ and his ‘wife’ stepped out onto the red carpet as representatives of the millions of people around the world who wanted
a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty to head-off climate catastrophe.

Holding up banners reading: “Politicians Talk, Leaders Act”, the activists demanded action and not merely words from Presidents and Prime Ministers during their Friday session of the climate summit.

Yesterday, police also arrested Joris Thijssen, a climate campaigner at Greenpeace International. He is being held under the same conditions as the other three activists.

“Like the outcome of the Copenhagen conference, this is a total sham and a climate injustice,” said Mads Flarup Christensen, Greenpeace Nordic Executive Director and husband of Nora Christensen. “The real crime was committed in the Bella Center, where the climate talks took place.”

A weak outcome has so-far emerged from the UN climate summit. The deal is not ambitious, unfair, not legally binding and likely to put the world on a path to at least a 3C temperature rise.

Siddharth Pathak, Climate & Energy Policy Adviser who is in Copenhagen said: “The Indian Government’s attitude to climate change this year showed that it is willing to shoulder responsibility and be a global player on climate action. The Prime Minister had gone to Copenhagen from a position of strength only to squander it to the near-farcical accord and a weak outcome. He failed India and the world when he let the US and developed countries off the hook.”

“700 million Indians are dependent on climate sensitive sectors and resources. The failure to reach an ambitious and legally binding agreement pushes them further to the brink”, said Vinuta Gopal, Climate Campaign Manager, Greenpeace India.

Earlier, commenting on the outcome of the summit, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said: “The city of Copenhagen is a climate crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport. World leaders had a once in a generation chance to change the world for good, to avert catastrophic climate change. In the end they produced a poor deal full of loopholes big enough to fly Air Force One through. We have seen a year of crises, but today it is clear that the biggest crisis facing humanity is a leadership crisis.”

“Climate science says we have only a few years left to halt the rise in emissions before making the kind of rapid reductions that would give us the best chance of avoiding dangerous climate change. We cannot change that science, so instead we will have to change the politics – and we may well have to change the politicians.

“This is not over, people everywhere demanded a real deal before the Summit began and they are still demanding it. We can still save hundreds of millions of people from the devastation of a warming world, but it has just become a whole lot harder.”

As the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen reached its final hours, a group of activists and general public marked the end of the week-long Climate Satyagraha Camp with a candle-lit vigil that lasted long into the night.

Throwing their light onto a fabric containing messages of hope from all over India, the candles spelt out a simple but plain message to the negotiators in Copenhagen: NO PLANET B.

Like tens of millions of people around the world who have been working so long and so hard for a fair, ambitious and legally binding (FAB) treaty to come out of the Copenhagen climate summit, I held on to my hope until the very end. My hope our leaders would stop talking and start acting. That they would agree a treaty to avert the threat of climate catastrophe.

My hope has been dashed. Despite a mandate from citizens around the world, and over 120 world leaders attending the Summit, the bickering continued. Our leaders did not lead, they did not act. The summit has failed to produce anything that could be called a FAB deal.

The city of Copenhagen is a climate crime scene, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport in shame. World leaders had a chance to change the world. To seize the day, and put us on a path way to peace and prosperity. To embark on a path of climate justice. In doing so, they could have banished the spectre of catastrophic climate change.

In the end they produced a poor deal full of loopholes big enough to fly Air Force One through.

Trust went missing

A lack of trust between developed and developing countries played a large role in preventing any real progress. Leaders from industrialised countries have had plenty of time to commit to ambitious greenhouse gas emission reductions and to find the billions of dollars needed to help developing countries both adapt to and mitigate climate change.

Developing countries showed a willingness throughout the year to take on their share of the effort. Developed countries failed to move far enough. Bringing up the rear has been the US. It must take the lion’s share of the blame.

Beating climate change

Climate scientists around the world tell us we have to ensure global emissions peak by 2015 in order to avoid average global temperature rising more than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.

To achieve this, industrialised countries as a group – which have the greatest historic responsibility for the problem – must make the largest emission cuts. They also need to provide at least USD 140 billion a year to help developing countries get onto a clean energy pathway, to protect tropical forests, and to adapt to those climate change impacts that are unfortunately now inevitable.
Any agreement must be enshrined in a legally binding treaty. This is the job the politicians did not do in Copenhagen.

Make them finish what they started

It is now our job – yours and mine – to make sure our ‘leaders’ see sense, get back to work get the job done!

Greenpeace, like many other groups around the world, will continue to peacefully pressure our leaders to do what must be done to save human lives and protect species which cannot speak for themselves.

More and more people are recognising the urgency of climate change. We believe there is an historic inevitability of forcing nations to act. The question is, whether we can force them to take the necessary action soon enough.

The final rub

In a cruel irony I have just learned that the three Greenpeace activists who, posing as world leaders, entered the Danish Palace for the State Dinner on Thursday night to unfurl a banner calling for a real climate deal are to spend the next three weeks in jail.

They will be away from their families over Christmas and the New Year. The real leaders, who attempted to get real action are now in jail, while the alleged ‘leaders’ got clean away, and are fleeing the Copenhagen climate crime scene in private jets and 747s.

Kumi Naidoo

Executive Director

Greenpeace International

This vigil also marks the end of the Climate Justice fast – in the spirit of real leaders past such as Gandhi, thousands of people have gone without food during the Copenhagen climate conference to convey their message to those inside making decisions. Over the last two days as the crunch point in negotiations approaches they have been joined by many more from all around the world, and we are here showing our solidarity. The candles represent the thousands from across India who could not be here today but joined us online to keep the heat on the politicians for a real deal.

If you’re in Delhi, join us now at Jantar Mantar from now until negotiations finish.

Greenpeace activists deliver their message that Obama needs to act now on climate change at the US Embassy in Delhi.

Indian climate coalition come together to demand a Fair, Ambitious & Binding Deal. Two thousand sky lanterns released at Lotus Temple as an assertion of hope.