Milan – Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg lambasted global leaders for their “words that sound great but so far have led to no action” regarding climate change promises.
There is no planet B; there is no planet blah, blah, blah, said 18-year-old Ms Thunberg in her opening speech at the Youth4Climate summit held in Milan, Italy, on Sept 28.
“This is not about some expensive politically correct green act of bunny hugging, or blah, blah blah,” she added, referring to United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who used the term “bunny hugging” to describe climate change efforts in his speech at the Leader’s Summit on Climate in April 2021.
Other terms Ms Thunberg used, which came with a “blah, blah, blah” after, were “build back better, green economy, net-zero by 2050, and climate neutral.
This is all we hear from our so-called leaders, she said, noting the youth’s “hopes and dreams drown in their empty words and promises.”
“Of course, we need constructive dialogue, but they’ve now had 30 years of blah, blah, blah, and where has that led us?” she asked.
Ms Thunberg noted that carbon emissions were still rising despite promises made during the first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) in 1995.
She highlighted that the media covers what the leaders say they would do instead of what they are actually doing.
“They (media) are not holding leaders accountable for their action or rather, inaction.”
“Global [carbon] emissions are expected to rise by 16 per cent by 2030, compared to 2010 levels,” she said, noting that the world was still speeding in the wrong direction.
With only about two per cent of government recovery spendings being allocated to clean energy measures, Ms Thunberg spoke for the youth and said they don’t want this level of effort.
Still, Ms Thunberg reiterated that things could still change.
“Don’t get me wrong; we can still do this. Change is not only possible but urgent and necessary,” she said.
Despite mentioning that lifestyles had to change drastically, Ms Thunberg skipped laying out concrete examples of how the world can address climate change in her speech.
This did not deter the estimated 400 youth activists from around 200 countries to second her call to immediate climate change action.
The event was held for young climate leaders to discuss solutions before presenting a compiled proposal to policymakers attending the preparatory meeting of the upcoming United National Climate Change Conference scheduled to begin on Oct 31./TISG
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