In an emotional and defiant speech, the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg made a strong claim at UN Action Climate Summit in New York on the first day of its General Assembly in which she told governments that they have betrayed young people.
“You are still not mature enough to tell it like it is. You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal.” Said the famous climate young activist visibly moved.
Her impassioned rebuke was full of harsh critics to the main world leaders. “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” the 16-year-old said.
And she urged world leaders to act urgently, saying: “The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line.”
Some 60 world leaders were taking part in the one-day meeting organised by the United Nations.
This summit comes days after several million people took part in a global climate strike led by youth activists.
Ahead of the meeting, scientists warned the signs and impacts of global warming were speeding up.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the amount of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere between 2015 and 2019 had grown by 20% compared with the previous five years.
After her speech she joined 14 other children to lodge a formal complaint under the UN convention on the rights of the child.
The complainants, from countries including Argentina, the Marshall Islands, France, Germany and the US, claim that countries’ failure to address the climate crisis violates the international convention.
Thunberg stated that world leaders were endangering children by ignoring or minimazing the climate crisis. “They promised to protect the rights of the child and they have not done this,” she said at a media conference at the offices of Unicef. “The message is that we have had enough.”
UN Secretary General António Guterres who organised the meeting, said the world was “in a deep climate hole” and that urgent action was needed.
“Time is running out, but it’s not too late,” he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that her country would double to €4bn (£3.5bn; $4.4bn) it financial commitment to fight global warming.
French President Emmanuel Macron said international organisations had pledged to release $500m in additional aid to protect tropical forests.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said things “are starting to turn around” in the country.
“Our gross emissions peaked in 2006, over 80% of our electricity already comes from renewable hydro and wind, and we have begun an ambitious agenda.
“We have introduced in parliament the zero carbon bill, the purpose of which is to ensure New Zealand lives within the threshold of 1.5C of global warming necessary to avoid catastrophic weather events for our Pacific neighbours.”
Despite the measures that some countries have taken, Thunberg’s inflammatory speech shows that they are still very shy and they are not up to the climate crisis that is already reaching a serious level.
Noticias Newswire
