KAY NIETFELD
The fact that the need for a dramatic reduction in emissions will still be discussed in 2021 and that fossil fuels will continue to be subsidized directly or indirectly is “a shame,” she said on Thursday at a virtual hearing before the environmental subcommittee in the control committee of the US House of Representatives.
“If we want to keep our promises and commitments from the Paris Agreement, we have to end subsidies for fossil fuels, stop exploration and extraction and leave carbon in the soil – now,” said the 18-year-old from Stockholm. This is especially true for the USA, if you take into account that it is the largest emitter in world history.
The subject of the hearing on the occasion of Earth Day was “The role of subsidies for fossil fuels in preventing measures to address the climate crisis”. The fossil fuel industry spent $ 250 million on political grants and lobbying last year, said subcommittee chairman, Democrat Ro Khanna, who invited Thunberg to the hearing. In return, companies in the sector would have received more than $ 30 billion in federal grants and pandemic support.
Thunberg had previously published a new video on social networks in which she again criticized the climate targets. If one compares these “inadequate” goals with loopholes with the current state of science, one can clearly see that there is a gap of several decades. “We cannot be satisfied with something just because it is better than nothing,” said Thunberg. «We have to go on. We have to believe that we can do that – because we can. “