Friday 5th November 2021
“Green dyeing festival”
Thunberg is one of the climate summits in Glasgow
While the countries of the world pore over climate action in Glasgow, thousands are demonstrating on the streets for clear results. The “Fridays for Future” founder Greta Thunberg is also there. In her speech, she accuses the states of maintaining the congestion quo.
Thousands of young people asked politicians to protect their future halfway through the World Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. In the afternoon they marched through the streets of the city and protested against what they saw as disappointing progress in the fight against climate change. “You don’t care, I don’t,” read the sign of a girl sitting on her father’s shoulders. “The world climate is changing, why don’t we?” Read another poster.
“If you were wiser, I would be at school today,” was the message of a demonstrator referring to the “Fridays for Future” movement. It was brought into being by the Swede Greta Thunberg, who skipped school for the protest against climate change in front of the parliament in Stockholm.
Thunberg himself accused the states of inaction in the fight against the climate crisis. It is no secret that the COP26 is failing, said the Swede at the closing rally in George Square in central Glasgow. “It should be clear that we cannot solve a crisis using the same methods that got us into it in the first place.” In front of thousands of protesters, the 18-year-old accused the heads of state and government of consciously working to maintain the status quo and to continue to exploit people and nature and to destroy future living conditions.
“The leaders do not do nothing – they actively create loopholes and create framework conditions in order to benefit themselves and continue to benefit from this destructive system,” said Thunberg. The world climate conference has become a public relations event, while the governments of the wealthier countries have continued to refuse to take any drastic climate action. “It seems that their main goal is to keep fighting for the status quo,” said Thunberg.
She had previously sharply criticized on Twitter: “This is no longer a climate conference. This is now a greenwashing festival of the global north, a two-week celebration of business as usual and blah blah.”
“Impossible to solve so many open questions”
The British conference presidency conceded that negotiations on new climate protection regulations were progressing slowly. “It is impossible to resolve so many open questions in the second week,” said Chairman Alok Sharma. In the run-up to the conference, many countries, including the USA and the EU, had decided to set stricter climate targets. As the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, China did not go beyond previous commitments.
So far, however, it has been considered a success that around 100 countries agreed to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. Methane is even more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide. There was also a country initiative to stop deforestation and reforestation. Around 20 countries, including the USA and Canada, have also promised not to finance any fossil-fuel power plants or other plants abroad by the end of 2022.
The 20 largest industrialized and emerging countries (G20) had already decided to stop financing coal piles abroad. Germany is now examining whether to join the extended initiative. The aim of the global community from the 2015 Paris Treaty is to limit global warming to well below two degrees compared to the pre-industrial era. The consequences are considered to be just about manageable. If all previous commitments by the states were fulfilled, the earth would heat up by around 2.7 degrees.