Friends of the Earth, Ecologistas en Acción, Greenpeace, Jóvenes Verdes and WWF/Adena have launched an online campaign demanding a drastic reduction of CO₂ emission limits in Europe. The EU is set to establish limits next fall and these associations are lobbying in for stricter ones. According to figures managed by these organizations, 70 percent of all oil used in Europe is used for transport and, among this, 50 percent is used for cars and light freight transport. The statement by these organizations also says that the moment is now, because of high oil prices and because transport is offsetting progress made by other sectors to curb global emissions.

The proposal includes average car emissions for 2012 in the 120 g/km of CO₂ limit, but 80 g/km by 2020 and 60 g/km by 2025. These levels should not take in consideration the car's weight and should be achieved by additional and not substitute innovations (like adding plug-in capabilities to all hybrids).

[Source: Ecologistas en Acción]

High fuel efficiency is a hot topic today, but people have been tinkering with miserly vehicles for a long time. Take GreenPeace, which started working on the "SmILE-Project" in the mid '90s. GreenPeace thought that if it was going to have to be cars that we use for transportation, they may as well be "Small, Intelligent, Light und Efficient" (hence, SmILE). Unveiled in 1996, the tweaked first generation Renault Twingo got dramatically better fuel economy and, had Renault followed up and put these into production, would undoubtedly be a huge seller today.

The vehicle itself is labeled with the words "First Aid for the environment - same performance, half the fuel usage." That's not an exaggeration. Before the work, the Twingo used 6.7 liters per 100 km (35mpg U.S.) and afterwards just 3.3 (71mpg U.S.). Thanks to Slim for the tip!

[Source: Greenpeace (link is in German)]

Greenpeace

Everybody's favorite pre-historic family was arrested today in Brussels, Belgium. A group of protesters from Greenpeace dressed in Flintstones-style garb were taken into custody today as they approached the European Parliament building. The EU parliament is about to start debating the legislation that would impose carbon dioxide emissions limits on automakers. The European Commission had recommended rules with hefty fines for non-compliance and fleet average emissions limited to 130g/km by 2012. Under pressure from ACEA, the European automakers association, the parliament has moved to reduce the fines and stretch out the time-line for implementation. German automakers in particular are most opposed to the new rules and German legislators have vowed to protect their domestic industry. The Greenpeace protesters were opposed to the amount of influence the industry has had on the new regulations.

[Source: Reuters]

Greenpeace is quite unhappy with recent proposals to use carbon capture technology (CCT) at power plants that burn coal. According to the environmental group, CCT is like burying money. Their reasons? First and foremost, the technology is not yet 100 percent ready, and won't be until 2030. Meanwhile, the need to reduce carbon emissions is quite immediate. Secondly, Greenpeace claims that CCT wastes energy: about 10 to 40 percent of the energy produced by the power plant where carbon is captured is used to store that carbon. This offsets 50 years of development in power plants, Greenpeace says, and guess who is going to pay for that? Final users. Of course, Greenpeace states that this can be fixed if we all change to renewable sources of energy, like solar or wind turbines.

[Source: Econoticias]

We are not crazy: The image above is Greenpeace Argentina's way to protest against the country's efforts to produce soy-based biodiesel. The activist group took a Mercedes ML and a Porsche Cayenne and made them look like bulldozers to illustrate the idea that soy biodiesel destroys native forests and pollutes more than might be expected by most people. The two SUVs featured German flags, because not only these two cars belong to German brands, but because most of Argentina's soy product is exported to the Bundesrepublik.

[Source: Argentinaautoblog (Thanks to Carlos for the tip)]

First it was Norway, now it's Switzerland: The Loyalty Commission of Switzerland, an advertisement industry self-control agency, has agreed with a Greenpeace petition: from now on, no company from the oil sector will be able to claim that their products are good for the environment in Switzerland.

The story comes from last year's campaign from the oil industry (which works under the UP, Union Petrolière, name) that had a slogan that said "Heating with fuel: for a better climate protection". Greenpeace said at that time "The UP has used inappropriately the concept of climate protection and it's ridiculous that private companies might rule our environmental policies, because protecting our climate means stop using oil."

For its part, the UP said that the advertising campaign was focused on their improvement in the quality of fuels which meant they were safer for the environment. They can't say so in Switzerland, though.

[Source: El Mundo]

Greenpeace last week told the Finnish company Neste Oil to stop making biodiesel from Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil. Lennart Daléus, the general secretary of the Nordic section of Greenpeace, said that growing the palm trees is done in a way that, according to a short note on Newsroom Finland, "destroys rain forests, speeds up climate change and drives many species to the edge of extinction. And, over on Epoch Times, we find Greenpeace's slogan for this campaign: don't fill your tank with rainforest.

Related:

• Neste will test biodiesel in Sweden
• Greenpeace brings the pink pigs to Frankfurt
• Greenpeace says new Porsche Cayenne SUV is a big pig

[Source: Epoch Times, Newsroom Finland via American Chronicle]