Greenpeace Joins International Day Of Action Against Mobil

12 July 2001

12 July 2001, Auckland: Greenpeace is undertaking a rolling protest at South Auckland Mobil service stations as part of the international day of action.

“Greenpeace is protesting today at Mobil service stations to let the New Zealand public know that Mobil is global warming villain No.1”, said Sue Connor, Greenpeace campaigner.

“Mobil urged George Bush to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, the only international treaty to prevent dangerous global warming. As soon as Bush entered the Whitehouse, he tore up the Protocol, exactly what Mobil wanted”.

“Mobil in New Zealand must send an urgent message to ExxonMobil in the USA to stop undermining the Kyoto Protocol and stop fueling global warming”, said Connor.

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2,500 of the worlds global warming experts, have said that global warming is happening now. The IPCC identified the burning of fossil fuels which release billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year as a major cause of global warming.

“Mobil is the largest fossil fuel company in the world. It funded George Bush’s election campaign over $NZ 2.5 million. It made $NZ45 billion in profits last year, is spending $NZ 17 billion on new fossil fuel exploration but is not investing in renewable energy.

“If any company can afford to invest in preventing global warming its Mobil. However it carries on raking in the profits from fossil fuels, while denying the reality that global warming is happening now.”

“Global warming threatens the very existence of some low lying Pacific Islands. At least two small islands, Tebuatarawa in Kiribati and Tepuka Sevilivili in Tuvalu, have already disappeared beneath the sea. The Ministry for the Environment is about to release a climate impacts report which shows almost all sectors of New Zealand will be affected by global warming”.

For more information contact Greenpeace campaigner Sue Connor on 025 272 4044, press officer Brendan Lynch on 025 790 817 or Pia Mancia on (09) 630 6317.

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