Reuters AlertNet Lite - Greenpeace blocks Dutch port to seek climate action

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Greenpeace blocks Dutch port to seek climate action

31 Jan 2007 17:14:45 GMT
Source: Reuters

AMSTERDAM, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Greenpeace activists blocked Amsterdam's coal port on Wednesday to demand tough climate change targets from the new Dutch government and a pledge to stop building new coal-fired power plants.

"We are prepared to stay here for days...as long as it takes to hear from the politicians in The Hague who are negotiating a new government," a spokeswoman for Greenpeace said.

Activists seized three cranes at the port earlier on Wednesday to block them from unloading a ship, carrying 33,750 tonnes of coal to Amsterdam, the environmental organisation said in a statement.

Other activists in rubber boats blocked the ship's path.

Greenpeace wanted the new Dutch government, expected to be formed later this week or early next week, to put climate change high on its agenda and freeze all plans to build new coal-fired power plants, the spokeswoman said.

The organisation also demanded 2 billion euros of government investment in renewable energy per year as well as a mandatory annual target of 2 percent in energy savings.

"We have chosen the coal port because coal emits a lot of carbon dioxide. The only way to have sustainable energy in the Netherlands is to invest in renewable energy," the spokeswoman said.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrats are negotiating on a new government with Labour and a small religious party after neither centre-right nor centre-left won a clear majority last November's election.

An accord is expected to be ready by Monday, government sources have said.

The outgoing government agrees with economists and scientists who believe that actions to fight global warming now and introduce environmentally clean and efficient energy technologies will cost the world less than doing nothing.

But the Dutch cabinet has not been very active in promoting renewable energy and drew criticism for its decision earlier this year to freeze subsidies for new green energy projects.

Most of the Dutch electricity plants are gas-fired but companies have lined up plans to build coal-fired plants as coal is cheaper and power demand increases.

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Last updated:Wed Jan 31 17:16:33 2007