On a Tuesday in the Turkish resort city of Antalya, Greta Thunberg stepped into the annual United Nations climate conference and used her first words there to call the whole ritual hypocritical. She arrived in a year scarred by deadly heat waves, floods, and an energy shock born of the Iran war, a season in which the cost of inaction has become hard to hide. Her charge is that hosts polish their reputations while the negotiating halls fill with lobbyists for industries that profit from the status quo. Yet even she concedes that the modest gains on the table, such as the push to electrify the w
Thunberg Arrives at COP31 Warning 'Everything We Love Is at Stake' Amid Host Hypocrisy Charges
A year of deadly climate-related disasters, including heat waves and floods, and an energy shock tied to the Iran war have affected people worldwide.
Everything and everyone we love is at stake.
Mark
Why does it matter that Thunberg showed up at this one?
Mimi
She hasn't attended a summit since Glasgow in 2021. Coming back, she chose to open by attacking the host-country system itself.
Mark
What's her specific complaint?
Mimi
That hosts use the talks to whitewash themselves, and that lobbyists paid by destructive industries fill the negotiations.
Luke
Worth noting that's her characterization. The reporting doesn't give any count of lobbyists or name who they work for.
Mark
But the hosts' energy mix is documented, isn't it?
Mimi
Yes. Turkey and Australia both rely heavily on fossil fuels, especially coal, for electricity, while promoting renewables and rooftop solar.
Luke
Right, though that shows a tension, not wrongdoing. Both are pushing renewables too.
Mark
What about Turkey's electrification goal?
Mimi
Electricity at 35% of global energy consumption by 2035, from 23% now. Thunberg said she'd take such victories given how desperate things are.
Luke
It's a target, not a commitment anyone has met. Nothing here says how it would be enforced.
Mark
And the young activists?
Mimi
They see her presence as symbolic pressure on the COP to deliver. Whether it does is the open question.
Der Puls
- Greta Thunberg arrived at COP31 in Antalya and immediately condemned the annual talks as hypocritical, jolting delegates who came expecting routine diplomacy.
- Co-hosts Turkey and Australia tout solar and renewables while still leaning heavily on coal and fossil fuels, a contradiction critics are seizing on.
- Youth delegates and activists from small island states, Thailand, and Singapore are rallying behind her, pressing for climate finance and real implementation.
- The talks run until November 20, with a global electrification goal, targeting 35% of energy from electricity by 2035, now the test of whether words become action.
On a Tuesday in the Turkish resort city of Antalya, Greta Thunberg stepped into the annual United Nations climate conference and used her first words there to call the whole ritual hypocritical. She arrived in a year scarred by deadly heat waves, floods, and an energy shock born of the Iran war, a season in which the cost of inaction has become hard to hide. Her charge is that hosts polish their reputations while the negotiating halls fill with lobbyists for industries that profit from the status quo. Yet even she concedes that the modest gains on the table, such as the push to electrify the world, must be seized, because when the stakes are this high, every sign of progress matters.
Greta Thunberg walked into the U.N. climate talks in Antalya, Turkey, on Tuesday and, in her first remarks, called the whole annual exercise hypocritical. The gathering comes after a year of deadly heat waves and floods, and after another energy shock caused by the Iran war.
Her sharpest target is the host-country system. Hosts, she argues, get a convenient chance to whitewash their records, while the negotiations are crowded with lobbyists paid by the industries that profit from a violent status quo. She described political and economic systems that have grown incompatible with human nature, and insisted that action should serve people and the planet rather than a fortunate few.
The record of the hosts gives her case weight. Turkey and Australia promote renewables and rooftop solar, yet both still depend heavily on fossil fuels, especially coal. Earlier hosts Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan are major oil producers.
This is her first climate summit since Glasgow in 2021, where she dismissed leaders' promises as "blah, blah, blah." She rose to prominence in 2018 at age 15 with a solitary school strike outside the Swedish Parliament. She has since broadened her activism to other causes and was arrested in London last year while backing hunger-striking pro-Palestinian activists.
Still, she does not reject the agenda outright. Turkey's push for global electrification, shifting transport, buildings and heavy industry toward electricity, mostly from solar and wind, is one of the few tangible goals. Her view is that every positive sign counts when so much is at risk.
Young activists were energized by her arrival. Amber Turner of the Alliance of Small Island States hoped her presence would recall why the movement began. Thailand's youth negotiator Kamori Osthananda called it a symbolic moment that could push for real implementation, and Singapore's Qiyun Woo noted that a generation inheriting these consequences is demanding answers. Protests inside the conference have called for more climate finance and questioned the growing embrace of nuclear energy.
The talks conclude on November 20, and the next conference, COP32, is scheduled for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2027.
Greta Thunberg walked into the U.N. climate talks in Antalya, Turkey, on Tuesday and used her first remarks to call the whole annual exercise hypocritical. The COP31 conference is being held in the Turkish resort city after a year of deadly climate-related disasters, including heat waves and floods, and after another energy shock caused by the Iran war.
Thunberg aimed her criticism at the host-country system. Every year, she said, the nations that stage the talks are handed a chance to whitewash their records, and the negotiations themselves are filled with lobbyists paid by the destructive industries that profit from what she called an extremely violent status quo. She described political and economic systems that have become incompatible with human nature.
The record of the hosts gives her argument something to work with. Turkey and Australia, the COP31 co-hosts, are promoting renewable energy and rooftop solar, yet both still depend heavily on fossil fuels, especially coal, to generate electricity. Earlier hosts Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan are major oil producers.
Climate change, Thunberg said, is threatening everything, and everything and everyone we love is at stake. She argued that action should protect and benefit people rather than keep sacrificing the global majority and the planet so that a fortunate few can go on making unimaginable profits and holding geopolitical power.
This is the first climate summit she has attended since the 2021 talks in Glasgow, Scotland, where she dismissed world leaders' promises as "blah, blah, blah." She became prominent in 2018, at age 15, when she began a solitary School Strike for Climate outside the Swedish Parliament. In 2022 she published The Climate Book, laying out actions to address the crisis. She has won multiple awards and taken up other causes, including the Free Palestine movement; last year she was arrested in London while supporting hunger-striking pro-Palestinian activists, and more recently she backed French students protesting for more school resources. In 2024 she joined a protest in Georgia against Azerbaijan hosting COP29.
She did not dismiss the talks' agenda entirely. A key Turkish goal is global electrification, moving transportation, buildings and heavy industry from fossil fuels toward electricity. Turkey wants electricity, ideally from solar and wind, to make up 35% of global energy consumption by 2035, up from 23% today. Thunberg said the world has to take the victories it has, because the situation is so desperate that every positive sign counts if it saves what can still be saved. She is expected to stay several days.
Her arrival energized many young activists. Amber Turner, a 26-year-old fellow with the Alliance of Small Island States, said she hoped Thunberg's presence would remind people why the work began: to push for meaningful change and hold decision-makers accountable. Kamori Osthananda, a youth negotiator with Thailand's delegation, called the presence of such a headline activist symbolic and hoped it would pressure the COP to deliver real action and implementation. Qiyun Woo, a youth environmentalist from Singapore, said it adds to calls from a generation that inherits the consequences of the negotiations, and noted that many other youth activists are on the ground fighting for their communities. Protests at the conference have demanded more climate finance and criticized growing interest in nuclear energy.
The talks in Antalya run until Nov. 20. COP32 is scheduled for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2027.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Host countries are given an opportunity to whitewash themselves, and the negotiations are filled with lobbyists paid by destructive industries.— Greta Thunberg
Her presence is symbolic, and I hope it will put pressure on the COP to deliver real action and implementation.— Kamori Osthananda, youth negotiator with Thailand's COP delegation
Möchten Sie die ganze Geschichte?
Das Original lesen bei Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ↗