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More than 100 Greenpeace activists from around the world have occupied four coal-fired power stations across Italy (live stream and twitter feed).  The action is aimed at forcing the Heads of State to take leadership on climate change as top politicians from the world’s most powerful nations arrive at the G8 Summit today.

Early this morning, an international team of Greenpeace activists occupied key positions at the site of four current and planned Italian power stations in Brindisi, Marghera (just outside of Venice), Vado Ligure, (near Genoa) and Porto Tolle.

The Brindisi facility is Italy’s biggest coal-fired power station and the country’s largest single C02 polluter. The Greenpeace sabotage operation will entail blocking the coal conveyor belts and preventing coal from going into the plant.

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Speaking from the top of the 160m high chimney at the Marghera plant, UK activist Ben Stewart said, “Politicians talk but leaders act. There is no more time to waste. The G8 leaders must stop putting the interests of big coal and other climate polluting industries ahead of the planet and take strong, decisive leadership on climate change. That means deep cuts in emissions by 2020, investing in adaption and mitigation in the developing world and halting tropical deforestation.”

According to a Greenpeace press statement released today, the organisation has established urgent criteria that G8 leaders must agree to, including:

• keep global temperature rise as far below a 2°C increase as possible, compared to pre-industrial levels, to avert catastrophic climate change.
• ensure that global emissions peak by 2015 and be as close to zero as possible by 2050;
• commit, as a group, to cut emissions by at least 40% by 2020, on 1990 levels;
• invest US$106 billion (€74 billion) of the US$140 billion needed annually for developing countries to adapt to and take action on climate change and to finance forest protection;
• immediately commit to the establishment of a funding mechanism to stop deforestation and associated emissions in all developing countries by 2020, and achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon, Congo Basin and Indonesia by 2015.

Speaking from the G8 meeting at L’Aquila, Phil Radford, Greenpeace US Executive Director said, “The G8 heads of state must break the deadlock in the climate negotiations and stop blaming developing countries for their own inadequate climate policies.  This is an opportunity for them to take personal responsibility and show that they are real leaders - who act - and not just politicians full of hot air.”

“If the rest of the G8 descends to President Obama’s stated goal of returning emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 then our children will inherit a world of droughts, famines and the climate catastrophe scientists are warning us about.”

Image Credit - snappybex on flickr

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