Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday criticised the UN’s annual climate summits as “greenwashed circuses”, as she arrived in Turkey for the COP31 conference.
Many of Thunberg’s fellow climate activists have become disillusioned with a process which has yielded few major breakthroughs in recent years, with fossil fuel-producing nations often holding up proceedings and action on cutting emissions.
“COPs have become greenwashed circuses. That is the reality,” Thunberg, who had not taken part in the climate conferences since Glasgow in 2021, told the press and throng who had gathered for her arrival.
“Of course it is absolutely crucial that we still do everything we possibly can because this is an opportunity to mobilise people,” she said after arriving late to the talks in Antalya.
“We are here as activists to push those people in power to actually implement what they have been talking about for decades and decades,” she added.
“The climate disasters that we have seen recently (are) something that scientists and people living on the front lines have been warning about for decades.”
“And we also need to acknowledge that the COPs are not sufficient to prevent a climate catastrophe.”
Thunberg also took aim at the choice of host for the conference.
“We cannot be blind to the fact that the host country, (Turkey), is violating many basic human rights,” she said.
Observers expect few significant developments from COP31 as countries grapple with an oil price shock and geopolitical tensions fuelled by the US war with Iran and Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
