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On Saturday 3 December 2011 the Right2Know campaign will join other civil society movements participating in the COP17 Global Day of Action protest through the streets of Durban.

As a coalition of organisations mobilising against an unjust culture of secrecy, we come to COP17 demanding transparency in the UN climate change negotiations and access to information about the South African government and Eskom’s high carbon energy plans that remain a secret:

• Make the UN COP17 negotiations transparent: stop closed ‘green room’ negotiations that exclude the media and civil society.

• Release the full text of the contracts Eskom has signed with major smelters such as BHP Billiton, Mozal & Anglo (Skorpion). These three smelters use almost as much electricity as four million households! Eskom are selling these smelters cheap electricity, and ordinary South Africans are subsidising the cost!

• Release the full text of the loan agreement signed between the SA Government and the World Bank to fund the building of two of world’s largest coal-fired power stations in the world – including the full cost of the loan (including interest calculations).

• Publish details of donations to all political parties from mining and energy companies, which profit massively from South Africa’s carbon intensive energy plans.

• Publish the energy consumption projections given to government by SA’s Energy Intensive Users Group (a handful of large corporations that use over 40 percent of SA’s energy). These secret projections were used to develop the IRP 2010 Demand Forecast Revision – the basis of South Africa’s carbon heavy energy plan.

• Publish the research that government used to include a forecast of 4.5 percent annual GDP growth rate in the IRP (Integrated Resource Plan). This projected economic growth would require SA to generate 10 Terawatt Hours of energy a year to meet South Africa’s needs. In the period of economic growth from 1994 to 2005 real demand did not exceed 5 Terawatt Hours a year. What information is the government using to plan on a 100 percent growth in energy use in 20 years?

• The petro-chemical industry is withholding information from communities and even from government with regard to “risk assessment” (i.e. the health and safety of the surrounding communities). All “risk assessments” must be made public! In particular Shell, BP, and Engen refineries must release health and environmental information denied to the communities of Durban.

• Release Eskom’s evacuation plan for the Koeberg nuclear plant in Cape Town.

The march departs from Curries Fountain at 10h30 on Saturday 3 December 2011, and people will gather there from 9h00. For information about the C17 Global Day of Action visit www.c17.org.za or find them on Facebook. To join the R2K encampment at C17’s “Climate Refugee Camp” in Durban, call Nkwame on 0782276008.