Greenpeace activists try to board Danish-bound ship

Danish police arrested three activists from Greenpeace as they tried to board a cargo ship carrying coal bound for Denmark. The Nordic branch of Greenpeace announced that several of its members were trying to get onto the Hanjin Imbari ship at a point just south of the Great Belt Bridge that connects two of Denmark’s main islands.

Displaying banners that read “Quit Coal,” the activists were unsuccessful in their attempt to board the coal-laden ship from South Africa. The ship was en route to the Enstedvaerket coal plant in Aabenraa in south-western Denmark, according to the AP news service.

The Greenpeace protest is part of their wider global campaign to stop the use of coal as a form of energy in developed countries. Tarjei Haaland, Greenpeace Nordic’s climate and energy campaigner, said: “It is truly outrageous that a small country like Denmark imports and burns 8.3 million tonnes of coal on average every year, causing annual CO2 (carbon dioxide) emission of 19 million tonnes.”

Haaland compared Denmark’s CO2 emissions as equivalent to that created by Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia combined. These four African nations have a population of 111 million people, whereas Denmark has just 5.5 million residents. “Denmark is using coal to produce 50 percent of all electricity in the country,” Haaland said. “It is about time to lead Denmark away from the coal age and the only thing missing to do that is political action, not just empty words.”