PowerSwitch! Campaign Highlights

On 30 November 2004 WWF launched the international PowerSwitch! campaign to clean up the power sector, the worlds biggest climate polluter.

Actions taken by WWF in 20 countries around the world over the following 18 months had one goal: to get governments to cut CO₂ pollution produced by coal power stations and force a switch to cleaner, more efficient power.

At the launch WWF presented a new report. "Raking Power" revealed that the world’s biggest power companies fail to significantly invest in renewable and efficient energy that would reduce climate pollution.

Public interest and media coverage was huge. The Associated Press wrote "WWF wants power companies to increase efforts on renewable energy", and Dow Jones News titled "Environment group slams power companies over global warming". Result: many nervous reactions from power companies and the good feeling that PowerSwitch! had made an impact on them.

People from all over the world joined the campaign, including hundreds of activists who sent photos saying: "2 degrees is too much!"

Experts predict that temperatures could rise by up to 5.8°C globally until the end of this century. This would have dangerous impacts on people and nature. Floods, heat waves, droughts or rainstorms would be the result. With their photos the PowerSwitch! activists emphasized that we must keep the rise in Earth's average temperature well below 2°C.

PowerSwitch! continued to reveal the power sector’s massive contribution to climate change by launching the "Dirty 30".

This ranking listed the 30 dirtiest power stations in Europe, with Agios Dimitrios in Greece heading the list and five German plants among the top 10. The media coverage was gigantic. In Germany alone WWF counted 56 TV pieces and 145 newspaper articles. The anchor man on German prime time news said: "Coal power is the biggest climate killer." This was a major breakthrough for the campaign in terms of awareness raising.

Climate change puts people at risk.

For the campaign WWF found Climate Witnesses. These are people who testified to rising sea levels and coral bleaching, violent storms and disappearing species, deadly heat waves and drought. The personal stories from India, Nepal, Australia, the Fiji islands, Argentina, the United States, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK helped to explain the urgency and size of the problem.

» Learn more about the ongoing Climate Witness Programme

In summer 2005, the campaign released the report "Europe feels the heat", to highlight the link between power sector emissions and dangerous climate impacts like heat waves and droughts.

The report analyzed summer temperature data from a number of European capitals and found that the cities were warming by sometimes more than 2°C in the last 30 years. The media coverage was massive and had two positive results: increased public awareness on climate impacts caused by power production and increased public support for the campaign’s goal.