News Brief

An impromptu choir made up of Christian Aid climate justice campaigners made sure Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband got the message by singing a ‘Coal Kills’ message outside his offices last week.

They were taking part in a vigil calling on the government to impose a moratorium on building coal-fired power stations in the UK until all carbon emissions can be captured and stored from the outset.

The demonstration was organised by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, an umbrella body of more than 100 organisations with a combined supporter base of 11 million.

Other organisations represented included Greenpeace, Oxfam, RSPB, WWF and the World Development Movement.

Addressing the demonstrators, Mr Miliband said that he hoped UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown would attend the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Christian Aid climate campaigner Laura Trevelyan commented: "Coal is responsible for more than half of the carbon emitted historically. The impacts of climate change caused by those emissions - floods, drought, and a higher incidence of disease - are already killing people in the developing world. Such communities have the least responsibility for global warming."

She continued: "Ed Miliband appeared to understand the enormous threat that coal poses to our planet when he declared in the summer that ‘the era of unabated coal is over.'"

However, the Christian Aid spokesperson added that the current proposals would still allow new coal plants to pump 75 per cent of their emissions into the atmosphere.

Trevelyan went on: "We need a cast iron guarantee that no new high-emission power plants will be built in the UK. Anything less would be seen by the developing world as another signal that rich countries like the UK are not serious about tackling climate change."

"Anything that helps support that impression will seriously damage the chances of the international community arriving at a meaningful climate deal in Copenhagen," she said.

Christian Aid is an international development NGO headquartered in the UK and backed by a range of British churches. It works both to alleviate the impact of poverty and to tackle its root causes through advocacy.

The NGO works with people irrespective of their religious or non-religious background, seeking a common agenda for social justice.

You can also buy Christian Aid gifts and support present aid online.