Greenpeace is a comparatively small organisation fighting giants - whether they be governments or multinational corporations. Those giants are equipped with a full armoury of technological and communications resources - that's where their power stems from.

Greenpeace can never match their resources. But it is essential that we make the best use we can of the technology we have, and ensure that our supporters' money is spent wisely and cost- effectively.

Our boats contain laboratories and exhibition rooms. Accurate and well-researched information comes regularly from the Greenpeace Research Laboratories based at the University of Exeter in the UK. We were early users of the Internet, and our offices communicate regularly by e-mail. We continue to be as much a scientific organisation as a campaigning one. We place a high priority on the diligence of our research data, for they are at the heart of Greenpeace's mission.

At Greenpeace Communications in London, a series of live satellite feeds keeps the Greenpeace network in touch with the world. The photographic and video library is huge - a constant resource for the media worldwide. A TV interview room is in regular use, and live visual contact is maintained with the Greenpeace fleet - wherever it may be.
At the Sydney Olympic Games in the year 2000, the Olympic village will be built to a completely environmental brief for the first time ever. Greenpeace Australia has been assigned as planning partners in this exercise.
Walk into Greenpeace UK's office and you can access the Climate Change Database that sits in the reception area. It's a unique record of weather-related incidents throughout the world that demonstrates the emerging pattern of the world's changing weather conditions.

We are working with the financial services industries - the biggest funders of dirty energy - to help develop a multi-billion dollar market in solar development, for they are learning fast about the threats that climate change are bringing to their businesses. We hope in 1995 to persuade at least one financial institution to invest preferentially in a major solar project. We want that project established by the end of 1996. There is no time to lose...The future of the world's climate now depends on one simple thing - a global solar energy revolution. We are now campaigning to kick-start that revolution. Recent technical breakthroughs - both photovoltaic and solar thermal - mean that commercially viable solar energy is ready to be developed, yet it is currently making no contribution to world energy use.

Less than three years ago, Greenpeace built the world's first environmentally safe refrigerator at the South Bank University in London, discarding ozone-dangerous gases in favour of a safe cooling technology. The 'Greenfreeze' technology was quickly adopted by Greenpeace-backed scientists in Germany, despite the arguments against it by chemicals manufacturers such as Dupont and ICI. In 1994, AEG announced that it was switching to 'Greenfreeze' technology, and was quickly followed by Bosch- Siemens and Liebherr - responsible between them for the production of four million refrigerators every year. We have now won the backing of the World Bank for 'Greenfreeze' technology, and manufacturers in Japan, Chile, India, Australia and Argentina are all currently asking for technical assistance in developing ozone-friendly refrigerators. Greenpeace is now regarded as a global expert on hydrocarbon technology.