Greta Thunberg berates leaders as UN climate summit falls short
UNITED NATIONS, United States — An emotional Greta Thunberg tore into world leaders at a UN climate summit Monday, accusing them of betraying her generation by
The Swedish teen's impassioned speech, in which she repeated the words "How dare you" four times, was the defining moment of the meeting, called by UN chief Antonio Guterres to reinvigorate the faltering Paris climate agreement.
Ahead of the conference, the United Nations issued a release saying 66 countries vowed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, along with 10 regions, 102 cities, and scores of businesses.
But pre-summit predictions of new, headline-grabbing commitments, particularly by the likes of China and India,
The world's top scientists believe long-term temperature rise must be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels to prevent runaway warming with catastrophic effects.
But rather than
New data released Monday showed
"I shouldn't be up here. I should be back at school on the other side of the ocean," said Thunberg, 16, who has become the global face of a growing youth movement against climate inaction that mobilized millions in a worldwide strike on Friday.
"You come to us young people for hope. How dare you?" she thundered, her voice
Matters did not improve much as a succession of national leaders took to the podium saying they understood the gravity of the situation but then
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not say explicitly whether his country would enhance its commitments made under the Paris agreement
There was also no new announcement by China, the world's biggest emitter. Senior foreign policy official Wang Yi spoke instead about the need for multilateralism, taking a veiled swipe at US President Donald Trump for pulling out of the Paris accord on taking office.
"The withdrawal of certain parties will not shake the collective will of the international community," he said.
Environmental and campaign groups reacted with almost unanimous disappointment.
"I think Greta's impassioned cry for sanity and for
Trump surprise
Fewer than half of the 136 heads of government or state in New York this week to attend the UN General Assembly attended on Monday.
Trump, who announced his intent to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement and has heaped scorn on climate science, had
Among those absent were President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, under whose leadership the Amazon rainforest is continuing to burn at record rates, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose government has pursued an aggressively pro-coal agenda.
Laurence Tubiana, one
But she said that she saw progress too.
"The big win is these group of countries
"The next step is to have them explain how they do that and what they do immediately."
Increased urgency
Earlier, opening the summit, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win."
French President Emmanuel Macron invited his counterparts from Chile, Colombia and Bolivia
Macron also lauded Russia, which ratified the Paris agreement on Monday, and said Europe must do more, repeating a vow to close coal-fired plants by 2022.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, repeated recently announced pledges including $55 billion for
And British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the UK would double its climate change funding through an overseas development program to $14.4 billion over five years.
In his closing comments, Guterres emphasized the positives, highlighting the growing action from the corporate sector, commitments from countries to plant
But he added:
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