Johannesburg — ENVIRONMENTAL lobby group Greenpeace plans to put pressure on the South African government and on business to reduce the country's high carbon emissions and coal dependence, which has made this country the 14th-highest CO' emitter in the world.

It also called on the South African government, "as a vocal member of the G-77 (a loose coalition of developing nations)" and a key power on the continent, to challenge developed countries to reduce emissions at the United Nations Climate Change conference in Poland in two weeks' time.

Speaking at Greenpeace's Johannesburg office launch yesterday, Greenpeace Africa executive director Amadou Kanoute promised that the organisation intended to be "vocal and visible". He said SA could not afford to waste any more time before implementing a renewable energy policy, because the effect of global warming was already being felt on the continent.

"If government does the right thing, we will support them, but if they do the wrong thing, we will say so and say it loudly. The same goes for business. We have a lot of examples of what can be achieved if we work with business to find new solutions," said Kanoute.

"SA must commit now to measurable actions to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, including ending its dependence on coal, without resorting to expansions in nuclear power".

He said while SA had lucrative coal exports, with 60% of its coal output sent to the European Union, it could not afford the price global climate change was going to exact. It was hoped that SA taking the lead would encourage other African countries to convert to renewable energy sources.

A plan of action has been drawn up by Greenpeace, which involves awareness drives at all major shopping centres -- these have started -- and proposed talks with the ministries of environment, minerals and energy, and mining.

Greenpeace is concerned that as a large source of carbon emissions -- 80% of which come from coal, the most polluting fossil fuel -- SA 's renewable energy initiative is floundering and it plans to recommission and build coal-fired power stations and build nuclear power stations, to address power shortages.

"SA's current approach to energy production cannot continue in a world facing catastrophic climate change," the organisation said in a statement, outlining the reasons for its focus in SA.

"Despite setting a target of 4% of its electricity requirements, to be met by renewable energy by 2013, and announcing strong policies on energy and transport efficiency and carbon emission cuts, the government has no effective measures in place," it said .

Greenpeace, as part of its conservation drive on the African continent, also plans to open offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Senegal. The focus in those two countries will differ from that in SA.

In the Congo, the emphasis will be on saving the Congo Basin rainforest, which plays a vital role in regulating the global climate as the fourth-largest carbon reservoir in the world.

In Senegal, the organisation will focus on illegal fishing on the west African coast by foreign trawlers.

Kanoute said with regard to the United Nations climate talks, SA needed to support central African countries by backing moves to create a funding mechanism that made protecting tropical forests and the climate more economical tha n logging. Tropical forest destruction accounts for 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions.