Climate protesters scale Carbon Exchange

27th August 2009
Cli­mate change pro­test­ers have scaled a build­ing in the City to high­light their oppo­si­tion to car­bon trad­ing.

Activists tar­get­ed the Car­bon Exchange in Bish­ops­gate at about 0900 BST and unfurled a ban­ner claim­ing car­bon trad­ing to be a “false solu­tion”.

A Met­ro­pol­i­tan Police spokesman said about 20 activists were at the site and that offi­cers were “in atten­dance”.

Hun­dreds of pro­test­ers have gath­ered in Lon­don as part of Cli­mate Camp — a week of “edu­ca­tion on green issues”.

The site for the camp — Dart­mouth Field in Black­heath, south-east Lon­don — was kept secret until the last moment and details were sent to activists by text.

Activists had repeat­ed­ly refused to reveal the final loca­tion, say­ing they did not trust the police.

It fol­lowed accu­sa­tions that the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Police were heavy-hand­ed in polic­ing the G20 protests.

The site was cho­sen because it is with­in view of the City and near the Riv­er Thames, organ­is­ers said.

A Cli­mate Change spokes­woman said: “Some peo­ple are mak­ing huge prof­its from car­bon trad­ing, and politi­cians are telling us it’s cut­ting car­bon emis­sions but it’s not.

“Car­bon trad­ing is a false solu­tion that is doing noth­ing to tack­le cli­mate change. So busi­ness­es, bankers and gov­ern­ments are just gam­bling with our plan­et.”

The four key themes of the annu­al camp are edu­ca­tion, direct action, sus­tain­able liv­ing, and build­ing a move­ment to tack­le cli­mate change.

Ch Supt Helen Ball, of the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Police, said: “As yet we don’t know what camp par­tic­i­pants intend to do in the days ahead.

“I’d like to repeat our request that they talk to us about any protests they are plan­ning so we can ensure a pro­por­tion­ate polic­ing response and min­imise any fur­ther impact on Lon­don­ers.”

The campers have wind tur­bines on site and say they are com­post­ing their food and toi­let waste.

Flood plains

Cam­paign­ers say that about 3,000 activists are expect­ed to vis­it the camp over the com­ing week.

They will be invit­ed to work­shops on a range of sub­jects, from cli­mate change, bio­fu­els and the fight against Heathrow air­port, to yoga, wood­en pen­cil-mak­ing and ped­al-pow­ered sound sys­tems.

Organ­is­ers said this year’s venue sym­bol­ised the finan­cial and cor­po­rate cen­tres of pow­er, and was with­in the flood plains of the Riv­er Thames, which they warned was at risk of burst­ing its banks as cli­mate change esca­lat­ed.

The heath was the set­ting for the Peas­an­t’s Revol­tu­ion, which saw thou­sands of pro­test­ers demon­strate against tax­es more than 700 years ago.

The site host­ed Jack Cade’s Ken­tish rebel­lion against King Hen­ry VI in 1450, which was fol­lowed by the Bat­tle of Dept­ford Bridge in 1497 dur­ing which Cor­nish rebels camped at the site.