The planet “is not dying, it is being murdered and we know by whom,” said Greta Thunberg, who slammed the world’s governments for their failure to prevent environmental deterioration in her first appearance at the annual UN climate talks in five years. Thunberg, 23, the Swedish activist who became famous for leading the school climate strike movement, delivered her tough message to those gathered at the Cop31 summit in Antalya, Turkey, amid countries’ continued failure to adequately address the climate crisis. [Earth] is being killed by the same people who are believed to have come to rescue us,” Thunberg said. “No one is coming to rescue us. When our human rights are threatened by states and other institutions, it is our duty to stand up and be the adult in the room and fight for everyone’s human rights.” Thunberg, who in recent years has shifted her attention to other areas such as the conflict in Gaza, linked worsening global warming to other calamities such as war in an appearance alongside activists from Nepal, Canada and Australia. “We are heading towards a future of more genocides and more ecocides and the complete compromise of our basic rights and where necessities become luxuries,” he said. “It is clearer than ever in spaces like these that the situation could not be less under control. The planet is not dying, they are killing it.” The intervention, on the fourth day of the two-week summit, came as world leaders who traveled to the Mediterranean coastal city issued their own verdicts on the climate crisis and the faltering progress in tackling it. Andy Burnham, the British prime minister, who was the only G7 leader to attend the talks, said in a speech that the record-breaking summer in the United Kingdom is “not normal.” “The climate crisis is not a distant threat; is upon us all now, devastating lives and livelihoods everywhere,” said Burnham, who pledged that the UK would reach net zero emissions and backed a proposal for countries to further electrify their economies. Andy Burnham, the only G7 leader to attend the talks, said the climate crisis was “now upon us, devastating lives and livelihoods everywhere.” Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PABeth John, climate justice adviser at Oxfam GB, said Burnham’s appearance “sends a positive signal.” But he added: “Attending is not enough: a crisis of this scale needs substantial action, not just signals. The true test of climate leadership is delivery, not declarations.” The electrification goal is one of the main potential pledges expected at the talks, which are co-chaired by Turkey and Australia. Some countries want the text of the deal to specify that electricity will be derived from clean energy sources. Campaigners have criticized governments for their slow pace of emissions cuts and for so far failing to unite around a phase-out of fossil fuels in the negotiations. Current policies are set to heat up the planet at 2.7°C for The catastrophic rise in temperatures is slightly higher than the group expected last year and well above the 1.5°C that world leaders have promised. disastrous landslide (caused by a melting glacier) that hit the country in August and claimed more than 1,500 lives Chaudhary told The Guardian: “We lost people, we lost lives, we lost property. Nepal is working towards rehabilitation, reconstruction and rebuilding of infrastructure. But communities, culture, lives, we cannot revive.” In the main conference room, a speech by Mohammad Mustafa, the prime minister of Palestine, drew a standing ovation from delegates as he described the environmental impact of the three-year war with Israel. The Turkish hosts of Cop31 have repeatedly accused Israel of genocide and have refused to invite the country’s leaders to Antalya. Israel denies committing genocide and insists it has waged a legitimate war to safeguard their own security. John Kerry, former US secretary of state, said Donald Trump was “the biggest loser we have seen in a long time” on climate issues. Photograph: Kaan Soyturk/Reuters Another country not formally present at the talks is the United States, which did not send a delegation, withdrew the country from the international climate framework, mocked climate science as a “hoax” and said it would not allow new wind turbines. former US Secretary of State, who traveled to Turkey along with 20 Democratic members of Congress and two state governors. “He is the biggest loser we have seen in a long time on all of these issues,” Kerry said of Trump in a question from the Guardian. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, warned that the Trump administration would “double down” in the remainder of the presidential term. recommit to the climate crisis. But Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, warned that the final two years of Trump’s presidency will not see any fundamental changes in climate policy. “I mean,” Newsom said Thursday, “I don’t expect them to do anything more than double down.”
