Greenpeace activists climb Greek power plant tower for climate deal

Athens: Greenpeace today said its activists had scaled a tower at Greece's largest coal power plant to demand a switch to renewable energy.

"The activists will send a message to the Greek government that it cannot ignore," the organisation said of the stunt at a facility near the northern town of Kozani.

The 10 activists climbed a cooling tower at a plant that belongs to Public Power Corporation (PPC), the country's main electricity provider.

"Let's Solarize Greece," read a banner carried by one of the activists.

"We are determined to stay here until we have completed our mission." said Takis Grigoriou, energy supervisor for Greece at Greenpeace.

The group said the operation was part of a global mobilisation against climate change as representatives of nearly 200 nations gather in Paris for a UN conference on curbing global warming.

Greece is trying to meet a renewable energy quota -- 20 percent of national electricity production -- by the end of the decade and has pledged to boost solar and wind power generation.

Yet around half of Greece's electricity production still comes from coal-fired plants, and PPC is Greece's single largest offender in carbon dioxide emissions.

Citing EU environmental agency statistics, Greenpeace said the use of lignite, a form of brown coal used at the Kozani plant, had burdened Greece with between 5.8 and 19 billion euros ( USD 20 billion) in environmental and health costs between 2008 and 2012.

Today the organisation said it had sent the government a 10-year plan to encourage solar energy use in households.

"To meet the target of a temperature rise of no more than 1.5 degree Celsius... We need 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 globally," Grigoriou said.