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STORY: Six female activists from environmental group Greenpeace scaled London's Shard skyscraper on Thursday to protest oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.
The six women started their ascent at 4 a.m. local time and were expected to reach the top by mid-afternoon when they planned to unfurl a "giant piece of art that will show the true beauty of the Arctic and why we're telling Shell to keep its rusty rigs away".
Greenpeace say they picked the Shard, not only because it is modeled on a shard of ice, but because it sits bang in the middle of oil and gas company Shell's three London headquarters. They say Shell want to drill for oil in places that have only become accessible due to the melting of Arctic ice, adding that the burning of that oil will only accelerate the melt in a vicious circle.
Last September, Arctic sea ice reached its lowest level on record and scientists say there could be an ice-free summer by 2030-2040.
