Greta Thunberg stormed the stage at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday at Davos, Switzerland. She chastises the political leaders for “doing nothing at the ground level”. She said- “This is not about right or left, we don’t care about your party politics. From the sustainability perspective, the right-left and center have all failed. No political ideology or economic structure has been able to tackle the climate and environmental emergency and create a cohesive and sustainable world.”
Participants constituting political leaders, policymakers and top executives from all around the globe come together at the Annual Meeting to address the most pressing issues on the global agenda. They do so in an exceptional atmosphere in the “Spirit of Davos”, featuring interdisciplinary, informal and direct interaction among peers.
To reach the 1.5-degree target, scientist has suggested reducing the emissions by half in the next decade. But the opposite is happening and global emissions continue to rise, hitting the records last year in 2019. An IPCC prepared a special report on the impact of global warming.
She added in her speech, “Let’s be clear. We don’t need a ‘low carbon economy.’ We don’t need to ‘lower emissions’. Our emissions have to stop.” She further added that “Our house is still on fire”, that reprised her line “Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour”.
Greta focused on how leaders and top executives are trying to fold climate awareness according to their benefits, rather than doing anything for the rising climate threat. The leaders would be failing if they are not able to meet the ambitions they made. She also focused on how the Amazon and Australian fires add fuel to the flames.
Greta demanded four things during her speech from the world leaders present in the forum. They were:
First– “Immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction.”
Second-“Immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies”
Third-“Immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels”
Fourth-“We don’t want these things done by 2050, 2030 or even 2021. We want this done now.”
Whether these demands are fulfilled or not but Ms. Greta as a young activist is making sure that everyone takes the topic seriously and deals with this situation in urgency.
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