Greta Thunberg dubs COP-26 ‘A Failure’
Swedish Climate activist leads a protest march outside Glasgow venue
Glasgow, Nov 5 (UNI/Sputnik) Teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said on Friday that the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP-26) was a “failure” in an address to thousands of people marching in Glasgow to demand action from delegates attending the two-week climate summit at the Scottish Event Campus, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
“It is no secret that COP26 is a failure. It should be obvious that we cannot solve a crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place,” Thunberg told the crowd that converged at Glasgow´s George Square.
The student, whose protests every Friday in front of the Swedish parliament inspired the Friday for Future movement worldwide, said that the COP26, where leaders are expected to make meaningful commitments to cut carbon emissions and limit global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), has turned into “a PR event.”
“Leaders are giving beautiful speeches and announcing fancy commitments and targets, while behind the curtains the governments of the global north countries are still refusing to take any drastic climate action,” she said.
Thunberg also claimed that the COP26 is no longer a climate conference but “a two-week celebration of business as usual and blah blah blah,” while “the most affected people in the most affected areas still remain unheard.”
Earlier, young delegates attending the Youth and Public Empowerment Day at the COP26 had urged leaders make real commitments to protect the planet for future generations.
The conference chairman, former UK minister Alok Sharma, told them that he understood the anger young people felt regarding climate change, but claimed that most of their demands on energy transition, land and forest restoration and climate funding were being addressed at the event.