The release last month of a joint announcement by Greenpeace and Facebook marks the end of one of the most interesting green campaigns of recent years. Greenpeace first targeted Facebook 20 months ago, after the social media giant announced a new purpose-built data center, which it turned out would (more…)

The Canadian chapter of Greenpeace yesterday released a report that highlights the dangers of the large-scale use of wood and tree harvesting for heating, electricity generation or liquid biofuels. The report is called ‘Fuelling a Biomess’ and it argues that burning woody biomass on an industrial scale could severely (more…)

A July Greenpeace report shows that the toxic chemicals in Chinese water systems aren’t always the fault of Chinese officials and factory managers (who sometimes face death if convicted of negligence).

Instead, they are the result of Western firms working in China and, intentionally or inadvertently, driving (more…)

Toymaker Mattel Inc. says it will stop using packaging from a Singapore-based company accused of clear-cutting swaths of Indonesian rainforest.

Mattel’s action follows a campaign by Greenpeace that targeted, among other products, the packaging used in Mattel’s popular Barbie doll. (more…)

Greenpeace has released a report titled How Dirty is your Data? which looks at the energy choices powering cloud computing. Based on 2007 data the report claims that if the cloud is compared to nations across the globe it would be the fifth largest consumer of electricity. The cloud would rank ahead (more…)

It did not attract as much media attention as COP15 in Copenhagen did in 2009. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, COP16 folded on a slightly more positive note than the disappointing edition of the previous year. But the agreement reached may have saved the UN process, Greenpeace said, but not the climate.

In an official press release, the UNFCCC (more…)

The opening sentence of the four-paragraph section on the environment in the G8 Summit final communiqué reads: “Among environmental issues, climate change remains top of mind.” While climate change may be at the top of G8 leaders’ minds–or on the tip of their tongues–it is not at the top of their to-do lists.

After climate change received only brief attention at the G20 and G8 meetings last fall in Pittsburgh, some thought this year’s meetings in Toronto could be different. But the meetings, which concluded on Sunday, were dominated by issues related to security and the economy.

Environmental groups activists seem disappointed that no new initiatives or specific actions were announced that might indicate any sense of urgency among the G8 leadership on climate.

Groups like WWF and Greenpeace say that climate change and the (more…)

The world stands to gain 6.9 million jobs by 2030 in the clean energy sector if a strong deal is reached in Copenhagen, according to a report released recently by Greenpeace International and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC).

A switch from coal to renewable electricity generation will not just avoid 10 billion tons of CO2 emissions, but will create 2.7 million more jobs by 2030 than if we continue business as usual. Conversely, the global coal industry — which currently supports about 4.7 million employees worldwide — is likely to contract by more than 1.4 million jobs by 2030, due to rationalization measures in existing coal mines.

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Most environmental business blogs seem to have glossed right over coverage of Greenpeace’s rather untraditional message to President Obama on Mount Rushmore two weeks ago, though a quarter-page photo in the front section of the New York Times certainly did not. Citing discontent with Obama’s acquiescence to compromises on environmental policy, a group of eleven activists draped a massive banner next to Abraham Lincoln’s face bearing the message “America honors leaders, not politicians: Stop Global Warming.” The action came as the President met with world leaders to discuss climate change at the G8 summit, and brings to light divides among the environmental community that are becoming even more apparent thanks to the debate over the Waxman-Markey bill.

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