The Senate today voted to establish an inquiry into the NAIF and any potential conflicts of interest on its board. This came after revelations that one of the board’s directors, Karla Way-McPhail, also runs mining labour and equipment hire companies and had made “hyper-partisan comments” online in support of the coal industry.

“A compromised board consisting of mining executives, some of them personally familiar with, and recommended by the resources minister, is no way to decide how to spend $5 billion dollars of taxpayers money,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule said.

“For too long the NAIF board have been allowed to operate in the shadows, refusing to answer any and all questions put to them about how they were planning to spend billions of dollars of the public’s money.

“Former federal treasurer Wayne Swan has labelled the NAIF ‘a slush fund’ on more than one occasion and declared it would be a ‘disaster’ for Australia if it were allowed to continue to operate unchecked.”

Greenpeace welcomes today’s announcement, which should serve as an alarm for the Australian community.

“Facts which have recently come to light have shown serious questions need to be asked about the members who comprise the board and their agendas,” Casule said.

“This is particularly concerning when NAIF is currently considering a $1 billion loan to the rail infrastructure for the Carmichael coal mine: a project that’s an economic and environmental disaster.

“This inquiry must serve as a notice for the NAIF board and the dying coal industry that the country will not stand by while $1 billion dollars is used to prop up projects which would be a disaster for Queensland both environmentally and economically.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

The program heard from former workers who claimed as little as seven per cent of the donations were actually passed on to the desired charity, with the rest going directly to the Appco Group.

It also claims Appco staff mocked the very charities they were raising money to support. 

“The behaviour credited to Appco staff during the Sunday Night show is disgusting,” Greenpeace Deputy Program Director, Nic Seton, said.

“While Greenpeace Australia Pacific have never had any dealings with Appco we are nonetheless concerned by claims that any company would use a charity’s good name to gouge the public for donations."

Greenpeace use a number of different service providers to connect with the public for charitable donations all of which go through a rigorous due diligence process.

“Agencies are constantly reassessed as part of this due diligence process and any suppliers who show a lack of ethics or predatory behaviour will be terminated,” Seton said.

“We believe in protecting the environment and assisting impacted communities and every single dollar that we raise is budgeted to best maximize our impact.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

This weekend UNESCO released a report which found world heritage coral reefs around the globe would continue to be killed off by bleaching events unless CO2 emissions are drastically reduced to limit global temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

“What the UNESCO report makes clear is that the government’s Reef 2050 plan is just tinkering at the edges of environmental disaster—its measures  are simply not enough. If we are going to stand a chance of slowing climate change and preserving what’s left of the Great Barrier Reef, we have to stop funding the fossil fuel industry and transition to clean, renewable energy as fast as possible.

“The Turnbull government propping up coal, oil and gas through fossil fuel subsidies is at the heart of this problem. And its support for a $1bn loan of public money from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) is a final slap in the face to Australians watching the slow death of a national icon.

“It’s time we ended polluter hand-outs across the board. We should start by ruling out any taxpayer funding for a new coal megamine in the Galilee Basin," Dr Casule said.

Currently the Australian Government funds climate change with over $11 billion worth of tax breaks alone to big polluters per year [1] and there is a proposal before the NAIF board for a $1bn loan to the Carmichael coal mega mine.

“Fossil fuel subsidies have been described by the Bloomberg Editorial Board as ‘the world’s dumbest policy’[2] for a very good reason,” Dr Casule said.

“They allow fossil fuel producers to undermine national climate commitments, while we pay them for the privilege. It’s perverse corporate welfare that only encourages more carbon pollution and holds back the clean energy revolution Australia should be leading.

“Pouring public money into fossil fuels also diverts tax dollars from critical public services such as education and health.

“The Great Barrier Reef is Australia’s greatest natural wonder. As the rest of the world looks on in horror at the tragedy unfolding on the Reef, Malcolm Turnbull is doing his best to pour billions of dollars into fossil fuels. This is Australia’s national shame.

“Real climate leadership from Malcolm Turnbull is no longer an option—it’s a requirement. Australia must stop pouring money into fossil fuels, ban new coal mines, and exert every effort to catch up with other countries making progress on climate action," said Dr Casule. 

For interviews contact:
Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner rachael.vincent@greenpeace.org 0413 993 316

Notes
1. ‘How your taxes subsidise fossil fuels, Market Forces, http://www.marketforces.org.au/ffs/tax/

2. 'Fuel Subsidies Are the World's Dumbest Policy,' Bloomberg Editorial Board, 1 September 2016
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-09-01/fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-the-world-s-dumbest-policy-editorial

Greenpeace East Asia, in partnership with iFixit, assessed over 40 best selling smartphones, tablets and laptops launched between 2015 and 2017. Seventeen IT brands were represented in the study. The assessment is based on iFixit’s repairability score, which considers the time required to repair the product, the device’s upgradability and modularity, as well as the availability of spare parts and repair manuals.

“Of all the models assessed, we found a few best-in-class products, which demonstrate that designing for repairability is possible. On the other hand, a number of products from Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft are increasingly being designed in ways that make it difficult for users to fix, which shortens the lifespan of these devices and adds to growing stockpiles of e-waste,” said Gary Cook, IT Sector Analyst at Greenpeace USA.

“Improving the repairability of electronic products is technically achievable and brands should be prioritising this in their product design. As a first step, it’s critical that all brands follow in the footsteps of Dell, Fairphone, and HP and make repair manuals and spare parts publicly available.”

LG had once been a leader in designing its products to last, but its most recent smartphone has several design issues impacting its repairability. LG must review its product design to be more sustainable.

Some key findings of the product guide are:

• Trending away from repairability:Design complexity, combined with the practice of soldering or gluing separate pieces together, makes repairing time consuming. Samsung and LG’s smartphones and Apple’s laptops have become increasingly less repairable.

• Non-replaceable batteries: Nearly 70% of all devices tested had batteries that were impossible or difficult to replace due to design decisions and the use of strong adhesives to affix the battery to the casing. Samsung’s Galaxy S8 smartphone and Apple’s Retina MacBook exemplify this bad practice, with batteries thoroughly adhered to the device panels. While the Note7 was not considered in this analysis, Samsung might have been able to avoid recalling millions of devices if the phone’s design had enabled easy battery removal.

• Non-standard tools: To discourage user repair, non-standard tools are increasingly required for working with proprietary screws and other parts. Apple’s iPhone, Oppo's R9m, and Huawei’s P9 are just some of the devices that require special tools to conduct repairs.

• No access to repair manuals or spare parts: Very few electronics manufacturers provide users with information about how to fix their products. Out of the 17 brands represented in the survey, only 3—Dell, Fairphone and HP—provide all spare parts and repair manuals.

“Electronics take a massive amount of energy, human effort, and natural resources to make,” said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens. “And yet, manufacturers produce billions more of them every year -while consumers keep them for just a few years before tossing them away. E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. We should be able to make electronics a more sustainable part of our lives.”

Greenpeace is calling on the IT sector to design products that can be more easily repaired or upgraded and offer adequate post-sale support. This could be done by making repairing accessible and affordable, making spare parts, particularly batteries, displays and other components with high failure rates, available to customers for at least seven years and by promoting standards and laws that encourage product repair.

Notes to editors:

[1] The scorecards and product guide can be found at: http://www.rethink-it.org/en/

[2] A summary of findings can be found here and the factsheet here.

[3] Photos and video can be accessed here: http://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MZIFJJT1MBE

Media contacts:

Maria Elena De Matteo, Global Communications Strategist, Greenpeace East Asia, phone: +852-55749984, mariaelena.dematteo@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org, phone: +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours)

Kay-Kay Clapp, Director of Communications, iFixit, kaykay@ifixit.com

Treasurer Scott Morrison has warned state and territory governments that they could face cuts to the amount of GST they’re given if they limit gas exploration via fracking following a Productivity Commission inquiry.

“This is yet another example of the willingness of the federal government to use public money in their quest to support the destructive and selfish fossil fuel industry,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule, said.

“GST money is used by states to fund schools and hospitals and threatening to withhold it in order to serve fracking companies that threaten Australians’ health and livelihoods is deplorable.

“It isn’t enough for our governments to allow these companies to plunder Australia’s resources without paying a fair share of tax, or to push to funnel billions in public money into projects supporting them.

“Now they want to try to take money away from communities who desperately need it in an attempt to blackmail them into opening their doors to the dangerous and profiteering fracking industry.”

“The Prime Minister must immediately block this despicable and immoral proposal.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

Leaked details [1] of the proposal this morning revealed Adani, the operator of the mine, would initially pay just $2 million a year in royalties when the $21 billion project was up and running.

This concession would mean they would sidestep paying anywhere up to $320 million in royalties to the Queensland community.

“This morning’s revelation that the Queensland Premier has sold out her own constituents is a disgrace,” Greenpeace campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“This arrangement is only the latest in a series of insults delivered by a government that seems to be putting the interests of big polluting fossil fuel companies before the community.

“It wasn’t enough simply to facilitate the waste of $1 billion of federal taxpayers money on the rail line for this project and to grant unlimited water access in one of the country’s most drought stricken areas.

“Now Premier Palaszczuk is taking hundreds of millions of dollars away from Queensland taxpayers and handing it over to a billionaire mining company at a time when we need to take urgent action on climate change to protect natural treasures like the Great Barrier Reef.

“During the election Palaszczuk promised there would be no taxpayer money funnelled into this project. This royalty holiday is a broken promise to the people who elected her and to the communities that rely on her to champion their interests.”

Greenpeace are calling on the Queensland government to immediately withdraw any plans which stop coal mines paying their fair share of royalties to the Australian public and to commit to keeping public money out of fossil fuels by opposing any funds for the Carmichael project via the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

“This is money that could be used to fund any number of community projects from schools to hospitals to providing assistance to our farmers or aid to the victims of natural disasters like Cyclone Debbie,” Casule said.

“There are countless people and organisations more deserving of the money that should go to the people of Queensland than a billionaire mining company.”

It is reported the royalty rate will then increase after several years.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-18/queensland-government-gives-adani-royalties-holiday/8536560

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

New video released today shows crowds interacting with the standing exhibit, which was installed in central Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall in April.

The exhibit houses a three dimensional model iceberg with a polar bear perched on top and an invitation to interact.

Closer inspection reveals the iceberg is melting. Drops of water are steadily eroding the polar bear’s home. When someone interacts with the display with their mobile phone, immediately the descending drops begin to slow down, until they are completely suspended in thin air, even reversing to flow back up into the iceberg. The effect becomes stronger as more people get involved.

“One of the challenges of climate change is that people find it difficult to see the effect their efforts have on such a huge, global problem,” Greenpeace campaigner Nic Seton said.

“With this installation, we hope to illustrate that a collective effort can indeed make a real difference. It is only by rallying together that we will be able to slow down, stop, and even begin to reverse the damage that has been done to our environment.”

 “As a passer-by gets involved, the melting starts to slow down.  And as more and more people get involved, their efforts make a visible difference in the fight against climate change.”

Greenpeace worked with Ogilvy & Mather Singapore to conceptualise and build the reverse climate change interactive display.

Join the collective action by signing the petition at: http://greenpeace.org/reverse

Video & high-res images for the media are available at: http://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJJPY8GQ&SO=Id

For more information or interviews contact:
Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner 0413 993 316 | rachael.vincent@greenpeace.org

They also released a new poll showing 65% of residents in NSW, VIC and WA supported a ban; with 79% support in states with existing bans (see below).

“The environmental and community verdict is in – it’s time for state governments to take action. The growing alarm about plastic pollution of the ocean is creating added urgency which can’t be ignored,” said Jeff Angel, Director of the Boomerang Alliance of 47 groups.

Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner, Simon Black, said: "Australians use tens of millions of plastic bags each day". 

"An estimated 50 million of the littered bags end up in our waterways and oceans each year. There is now an estimated 1.7 million tonnes of plastic contaminating our waterways.” 

"Much of it in the form of invisible microplastics which cannot be seen but kill marine life and contaminating our food."

Ian Kiernan, AO, Chairman of CleanUp Australia said: “We’re seeing more and more businesses and local communities ditching the plastic bag. There are plenty of alternatives. Governments should take their guide from this and enact state laws.”

Omnipoll 25 May - 5 June 2017

Support or not the ban in "STATE" of single use plastic bags given out at supermarket and store checkouts. 

Further information:

Jeff Angel, Boomerang Alliance - 0418 273 773

Simon Black, Greenpeace, 0418 219 086

The revelation comes after continued pressure by customers and concerned community members who have staged numerous protests outside CommBank branches across the country and peppered the bank’s Facebook page with messages pleading for the bank to “dump coal” and “stop supporting the fossil fuel industry”.

“Despite clear proof that fossil fuel investments are toxic, the Commonwealth Bank would rather create a PR team than deal with their customers’ concerns,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule, said.

“Customers started out angry that the bank they trusted with their money is investing in fossil fuels that are damaging the environment and killing the Great Barrier Reef and now they are furious that those concerns are being ignored.

“The only substantial thing CommBank have done since their customers started telling them they wanted action on climate change has been to set up a team of people to try to convince people not to take their business elsewhere,” Dr Casule said.

The Commonwealth Bank made a public commitment to take action to limit global warming to no more than two degrees in late 2015, but last year lent a massive $3.886 billion to coal, gas and oil mining and infrastructure projects, making it the biggest funder of dirty fossil fuels in Australia in 2016.

Under questioning at a parliamentary inquiry in March, CEO Ian Narev was unable to provide a single example of the bank’s climate policy affecting lending decisions and last month it was revealed that CommBank had been secretly working with Adani to facilitate the construction of the Carmichael megamine. It has still not ruled out providing finance to the proposed mine.  

A new international study into 37 banks’ fossil fuel lending policies by BankTrack yesterday put the Commonwealth Bank at the bottom of the pile because of its failure to evidence any policies to restrict coal, gas or extreme oil projects.

“I have been a CommBank customer for over 20 years. I have several mortgages and a business account,” Cabarita resident and business owner, Michael Rahme, said.

“Investing in new coal mines  and coal fired power stations has clearly and undoubtedly become an investment risk, a social risk, and an environmental risk that can no longer be ignored. The individuals on the Board of CommBank would be morally and ethically bankrupt to continue to do so.

“If Commbank do not publicly declare that they will no longer fund or lend or invest in new coal fired power stations, I will be leaving the bank and never coming back.”

Close to 85,000 people have signed a petition calling on CommBank to stop funding new coal, and over 4,500 CommBank customers have indicated they are considering changing banks over their support of dirty coal, oil and gas projects.

“Instead of action to address the concerns of their customers all we have seen is more empty repetition of the same PR rhetoric and spin in direct letters and emails to customers,” Dr Casule said.

“The Commonwealth Bank talks up the need to address climate change, invest in renewables and help us transition to a low-carbon economy, but they are not living up to their word.”

For interviews contact:

Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner rachael.vincent@greenpeace.org 02 9263 0354 | 0413 993 316

Notes

Market Forces’ research shows CommBank is Australia’s dirtiest bank, lending $3,886 million to fossil fuels in 2016 and a total of $20.5 billion between 2008 and the first half of 2016 (including $4.523 billion to coal mines, coal fired power plants and coal ports).

The Senate today voted to establish an inquiry into the NAIF and any potential conflicts of interest on its board. This came after revelations that one of the board’s directors, Karla Way-McPhail, also runs mining labour and equipment hire companies and had made “hyper-partisan comments” online in support of the coal industry.

“A compromised board consisting of mining executives, some of them personally familiar with, and recommended by the resources minister, is no way to decide how to spend $5 billion dollars of taxpayers money,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule said.

“For too long the NAIF board have been allowed to operate in the shadows, refusing to answer any and all questions put to them about how they were planning to spend billions of dollars of the public’s money.

“Former federal treasurer Wayne Swan has labelled the NAIF ‘a slush fund’ on more than one occasion and declared it would be a ‘disaster’ for Australia if it were allowed to continue to operate unchecked.”

Greenpeace welcomes today’s announcement, which should serve as an alarm for the Australian community.

“Facts which have recently come to light have shown serious questions need to be asked about the members who comprise the board and their agendas,” Casule said.

“This is particularly concerning when NAIF is currently considering a $1 billion loan to the rail infrastructure for the Carmichael coal mine: a project that’s an economic and environmental disaster.

“This inquiry must serve as a notice for the NAIF board and the dying coal industry that the country will not stand by while $1 billion dollars is used to prop up projects which would be a disaster for Queensland both environmentally and economically.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

The program heard from former workers who claimed as little as seven per cent of the donations were actually passed on to the desired charity, with the rest going directly to the Appco Group.

It also claims Appco staff mocked the very charities they were raising money to support. 

“The behaviour credited to Appco staff during the Sunday Night show is disgusting,” Greenpeace Deputy Program Director, Nic Seton, said.

“While Greenpeace Australia Pacific have never had any dealings with Appco we are nonetheless concerned by claims that any company would use a charity’s good name to gouge the public for donations."

Greenpeace use a number of different service providers to connect with the public for charitable donations all of which go through a rigorous due diligence process.

“Agencies are constantly reassessed as part of this due diligence process and any suppliers who show a lack of ethics or predatory behaviour will be terminated,” Seton said.

“We believe in protecting the environment and assisting impacted communities and every single dollar that we raise is budgeted to best maximize our impact.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

Released today, the Steeling the Future report shows that Australia deliberately "sought and won its position as the world’s pre-eminent facilitator of the dirtiest steelmaking process" with nearly half of all coal exports now used to make steel.

“The coal industry are fond of pretending that you cannot have steel without coal,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule, said.

“This report demonstrates that not only is that simply not true but coal is, in fact, standing in the way of cleaner steelmaking techniques.”

The report found that Australian metallurgical coal exports produce nearly half a billion tonnes of CO2 offshore - 88 per cent as much greenhouse pollution as we produce domestically.

“This cannot continue if we want to try to protect national icons like the Great Barrier Reef and make good on our promise as part of the Paris climate accords to curb global warming for future generations,” Casule said.

“Coal is a dirty and outdated method of producing power and a dirty and outdated method of making steel.”

The report urges the Australian government to learn from the lessons of thermal coal and to make a planned transition away from metallurgical coal.

“Coal communities across Australia have already been left in the lurch by the Federal Government’s failure to anticipate or accept the decline of thermal coal,” Casule said.

“We cannot afford to make the same mistake with communities who currently rely on the metallurgical coal industry.

“The government must immediately plan and implement a just transition away from all forms of coal and shift to cleaner steel production.

“We have the opportunity for Australia to become a leader in clean steel production while also ensuring that it makes a meaningful contribution to global efforts to combat climate change.”

Notes for editors:
“Steeling the Future” can be accessed at the below link: http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/what-we-do/climate/resources/reports/Steeling-the-Future/

For more information contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

“The Government says one thing, but does another on the Reef,” said Ms Foster Vander Elst.

“Queensland and Australian government ministers say they are committed to preserving the Reef for future generations, but their actions make it quite clear they do not care enough to do what we need to save it.”

Both the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and the Government’s own Reef 2050 Advisory Committee have warned that the Government’s Reef 2050 Plan, which primarily addresses water quality and land clearing, is inadequate and will not work because it does not address the primary threat to the Reef—climate change.   

UNESCO’s scientific report on coral reefs released on 23 June warns the only way to save the Reef from certain destruction before the end of the century is to halt global warming at well below 1.5-2°C above pre-industrial levels.

“The Australian Government has the power to act on global warming. It is utterly irresponsible to suggest otherwise. And Australia must act if it is serious about protecting the Reef. This means we must keep 90 per cent of existing coal reserves in the ground [1],” Ms Foster Vander Elst said.  

“But instead, the Queensland and Australian Governments are pouring billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money into fossil fuel subsidies, talking up the construction of more coal-fired power stations and bending over backwards to facilitate the expansion of Australian coal mining in the Galilee basin, including a proposal for the NAIF to provide a $1 billion loan to the billionaire Adani mining corporation,” said Ms Foster Vander Elst.

“When the Government is spending fifty five times more on fossil fuel subsidies [2] than on its much-touted Reef 2050 plan, it’s quite clear what its priorities really are.

“What we should be doing is cutting fossil fuels subsidies, banning new coal mines and offering the world real climate leadership. If we do not act now, then when Australians mourn the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef in years to come, they will know who to blame: the Abbott-Turnbull Australian Governments who wilfully promoted fossil fuels over committed action on climate change,” Ms Foster Vander Elst said.

Notes
[1] See Greenpeace Report April 2016, ‘Exporting climate change, killing the reef’ at http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/Global/australia/reports/Exporting%20climate%20change,%20killing%20the%20reef.pdf

[2] The Reef 2050 Plan has a price-tag of $2bn over ten years—or $200m a year—but Market Forces has identified $11bn in tax-payer funded fossil fuel subsidies provided by the Government each year: ‘How your taxes subsidise fossil fuels, Market Forces, http://www.marketforces.org.au/ffs/tax/

Background briefing & timeline
Greenpeace’s newly updated 18-page report, ‘The double threat to the Great Barrier Reef: climate change and the Australian Government’ offers a  background briefing and timeline on UNESCO, the Australian Government and the Reef: http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/what-we-do/oceans/resources/reports/The-double-threat-to-the-Great-Barrier-Reef/

Photos and video
High resolution photographs and video for the media can be accessed in the Greenpeace media library here, including drone footage of bleached coral: http://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJJD68E1

For interviews contact
Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner 0413 993 316 rachael.vincent@greenpeace.org

The Senate today voted to establish an inquiry into the NAIF and any potential conflicts of interest on its board. This came after revelations that one of the board’s directors, Karla Way-McPhail, also runs mining labour and equipment hire companies and had made “hyper-partisan comments” online in support of the coal industry.

“A compromised board consisting of mining executives, some of them personally familiar with, and recommended by the resources minister, is no way to decide how to spend $5 billion dollars of taxpayers money,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule said.

“For too long the NAIF board have been allowed to operate in the shadows, refusing to answer any and all questions put to them about how they were planning to spend billions of dollars of the public’s money.

“Former federal treasurer Wayne Swan has labelled the NAIF ‘a slush fund’ on more than one occasion and declared it would be a ‘disaster’ for Australia if it were allowed to continue to operate unchecked.”

Greenpeace welcomes today’s announcement, which should serve as an alarm for the Australian community.

“Facts which have recently come to light have shown serious questions need to be asked about the members who comprise the board and their agendas,” Casule said.

“This is particularly concerning when NAIF is currently considering a $1 billion loan to the rail infrastructure for the Carmichael coal mine: a project that’s an economic and environmental disaster.

“This inquiry must serve as a notice for the NAIF board and the dying coal industry that the country will not stand by while $1 billion dollars is used to prop up projects which would be a disaster for Queensland both environmentally and economically.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

The program heard from former workers who claimed as little as seven per cent of the donations were actually passed on to the desired charity, with the rest going directly to the Appco Group.

It also claims Appco staff mocked the very charities they were raising money to support. 

“The behaviour credited to Appco staff during the Sunday Night show is disgusting,” Greenpeace Deputy Program Director, Nic Seton, said.

“While Greenpeace Australia Pacific have never had any dealings with Appco we are nonetheless concerned by claims that any company would use a charity’s good name to gouge the public for donations."

Greenpeace use a number of different service providers to connect with the public for charitable donations all of which go through a rigorous due diligence process.

“Agencies are constantly reassessed as part of this due diligence process and any suppliers who show a lack of ethics or predatory behaviour will be terminated,” Seton said.

“We believe in protecting the environment and assisting impacted communities and every single dollar that we raise is budgeted to best maximize our impact.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

Ahead of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, the Greenpeace Germany-commissioned study also found that in about half of the G20 countries, renewable energy has been cheaper or equal in price to electricity generated from dirty coal or hazardous nuclear power plants since 2015.

Read the full report

"There can be no excuses anymore. Climate protection increasingly makes economic sense across the G20 as renewable energy becomes cheaper than dirty coal and nuclear,” Greenpeace Germany energy expert Tobias Austrup said.

“Any G20 country that is still investing in coal and nuclear power plants is wasting their money on technology that will not be competitive in coming years. The G20 now has a responsibility to send a clear signal that accelerating the clean energy transition is not only the right thing to do for the climate, but also for the economy.”

The Finnish Lappeenranta University of Technology study, commissioned by Greenpeace, calculates the electricity generation costs in all G20 countries for the years 2015 and 2030.

The study found that wind farms already generate the cheapest form of electricity in 2015 in large parts of Europe, South America, the US, China and Australia. Due to rapid technical progress and falling price, in 2030 solar energy will be so cheap that it will be even cheaper than wind power in many G20 countries.

Global investments mirror the results of the Greenpeace study. UN figures reveal that in 2016 investments in renewables were double that of investments in conventional power stations. About 55 percent of the added electricity capacities were based on renewable energies last year - a record figure.

US President Trump, however, is mistakenly promoting coal and nuclear power.

"Trump’s energy policy is simply a bad deal," Austrup added. "The US has excellent conditions for expanding its wind and solar energy capabilities and states like California, Texas or Iowa will not miss this chance."

Notes:

Greenpeace Germany study comparing electricity production costs: http://gpurl.de/9IHVS

UN study on global trends in renewable energy investment: http://fs-unep-centre.org/sites/default/files/publications/globaltrendsinrenewableenergyinvestment2017.pdf

Media contacts:
Gregor Kessler, Greenpeace Germany, Communications: gregor.kessler@greenpeace.org +49 151 7270 2918

Greenpeace International Press Desk: +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours) pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

Leaked details [1] of the proposal this morning revealed Adani, the operator of the mine, would initially pay just $2 million a year in royalties when the $21 billion project was up and running.

This concession would mean they would sidestep paying anywhere up to $320 million in royalties to the Queensland community.

“This morning’s revelation that the Queensland Premier has sold out her own constituents is a disgrace,” Greenpeace campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“This arrangement is only the latest in a series of insults delivered by a government that seems to be putting the interests of big polluting fossil fuel companies before the community.

“It wasn’t enough simply to facilitate the waste of $1 billion of federal taxpayers money on the rail line for this project and to grant unlimited water access in one of the country’s most drought stricken areas.

“Now Premier Palaszczuk is taking hundreds of millions of dollars away from Queensland taxpayers and handing it over to a billionaire mining company at a time when we need to take urgent action on climate change to protect natural treasures like the Great Barrier Reef.

“During the election Palaszczuk promised there would be no taxpayer money funnelled into this project. This royalty holiday is a broken promise to the people who elected her and to the communities that rely on her to champion their interests.”

Greenpeace are calling on the Queensland government to immediately withdraw any plans which stop coal mines paying their fair share of royalties to the Australian public and to commit to keeping public money out of fossil fuels by opposing any funds for the Carmichael project via the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

“This is money that could be used to fund any number of community projects from schools to hospitals to providing assistance to our farmers or aid to the victims of natural disasters like Cyclone Debbie,” Casule said.

“There are countless people and organisations more deserving of the money that should go to the people of Queensland than a billionaire mining company.”

It is reported the royalty rate will then increase after several years.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-18/queensland-government-gives-adani-royalties-holiday/8536560

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

New video released today shows crowds interacting with the standing exhibit, which was installed in central Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall in April.

The exhibit houses a three dimensional model iceberg with a polar bear perched on top and an invitation to interact.

Closer inspection reveals the iceberg is melting. Drops of water are steadily eroding the polar bear’s home. When someone interacts with the display with their mobile phone, immediately the descending drops begin to slow down, until they are completely suspended in thin air, even reversing to flow back up into the iceberg. The effect becomes stronger as more people get involved.

“One of the challenges of climate change is that people find it difficult to see the effect their efforts have on such a huge, global problem,” Greenpeace campaigner Nic Seton said.

“With this installation, we hope to illustrate that a collective effort can indeed make a real difference. It is only by rallying together that we will be able to slow down, stop, and even begin to reverse the damage that has been done to our environment.”

 “As a passer-by gets involved, the melting starts to slow down.  And as more and more people get involved, their efforts make a visible difference in the fight against climate change.”

Greenpeace worked with Ogilvy & Mather Singapore to conceptualise and build the reverse climate change interactive display.

Join the collective action by signing the petition at: http://greenpeace.org/reverse

Video & high-res images for the media are available at: http://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJJPY8GQ&SO=Id

For more information or interviews contact:
Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner 0413 993 316 | rachael.vincent@greenpeace.org

They also released a new poll showing 65% of residents in NSW, VIC and WA supported a ban; with 79% support in states with existing bans (see below).

“The environmental and community verdict is in – it’s time for state governments to take action. The growing alarm about plastic pollution of the ocean is creating added urgency which can’t be ignored,” said Jeff Angel, Director of the Boomerang Alliance of 47 groups.

Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner, Simon Black, said: "Australians use tens of millions of plastic bags each day". 

"An estimated 50 million of the littered bags end up in our waterways and oceans each year. There is now an estimated 1.7 million tonnes of plastic contaminating our waterways.” 

"Much of it in the form of invisible microplastics which cannot be seen but kill marine life and contaminating our food."

Ian Kiernan, AO, Chairman of CleanUp Australia said: “We’re seeing more and more businesses and local communities ditching the plastic bag. There are plenty of alternatives. Governments should take their guide from this and enact state laws.”

Omnipoll 25 May - 5 June 2017

Support or not the ban in "STATE" of single use plastic bags given out at supermarket and store checkouts. 

Further information:

Jeff Angel, Boomerang Alliance - 0418 273 773

Simon Black, Greenpeace, 0418 219 086