As the Paris climate conference entered its final stretch, 30 climate change campaigners took to the top of the Arc de Triomphe to push for a renewable energy future.
On the traffic circle and the streets around the Arc, dozens more activists painted the roads yellow to create an image of a huge shining sun.
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The non-polluting, water-based eco-paint will last for the rest of the conference. It will be visible from the air when politicians fly out of Paris this weekend, reminding them that whatever they agree here, the only credible way to beat climate change is to replace fossil fuels with the high-technology renewables systems being rolled out across the world.
‘Sometime this weekend several thousand politicians and diplomats will fly out of Paris as the ink dries on a new climate deal. When they look down they’ll see a giant painted sun that represents the coming transition to clean energy. Many of them are powerful people, and when they get home we think they should use that power to really get behind the remarkable rise of clean energy.’
Frédéric Amiel, Greenpeace campaigner
Outside the bubble at Le Bourget conference centre, renewable energy systems are having a huge impact. This week Nature magazine published a new study suggesting global emissions may be peaking, and cited the take-up of renewables as one of the main reasons.
‘We’re in a race between rising temperatures and the roll-out of renewables, and if renewables win that race then whatever is agreed at the Paris talks, we’ll beat dangerous climate change. We need to see the end of the fossil fuel era and the birth of a renewable-powered world.’
Frédéric Amiel, Greenpeace campaigner
A coalition of global cities used Paris as the backdrop to say they will go 100% renewable by 2050, while high-tech companies like Google, Apple and Facebook know which way the wind is blowing and are putting cash into clean energy.
On Friday, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo and his French counterpart Jean-Francois Julliard delivered a 100k name petition to François Hollande’s office, calling on the French President to embrace renewable energy
Click here to find out more about Greenpeace’s work to support renewables.
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