Greta Thunberg has arrived in Antalya, where the United Nations climate talks have gathered under the joint hosting of Turkey and Australia, and she has greeted the moment with a familiar judgment: that the gathering is hypocritical and crowded with lobbyists from industries whose profits depend on the status quo. Her charge reaches beyond this year's hosts to every nation that has taken the COP stage, arguing that the honor of hosting can become a way to wash a country's image while its economy keeps burning fuel. The backdrop is a year of deadly heat and flood and a fresh energy shock tied t
Thunberg Returns to Climate Talks, Says COP31 Is Stacked With Fossil Fuel Lobbyists
Everything and everyone we love is at stake.
Mark
Why does it matter that Thunberg showed up at all? She's been away from these summits for years.
Mimi
This is her first since Glasgow in 2021, where she dismissed leaders' promises as "blah, blah, blah". So her return, and her opening words about hypocrisy, carry that history with them.
Mark
What's her specific complaint about the hosts?
Mimi
That hosting lets countries whitewash themselves. Turkey and Australia are promoting renewables and rooftop solar, but both still lean heavily on coal for electricity.
Luke
Worth being careful there. The coal reliance is reported as fact, but the lobbyist claim is Thunberg's own assertion. The report doesn't name any lobbyists or give a count.
Mimi
Fair. She says negotiations are filled with lobbyists paid by destructive industries. That's her characterisation, and the piece doesn't independently verify it.
Mark
And the Turkish goal, 35 per cent electrification by 2035?
Mimi
Up from 23 per cent today. It means shifting transport, buildings and heavy industry onto electricity, preferably from solar and wind.
Luke
It's a target, not a commitment anyone has signed. Nothing here says other countries have backed it or how it would be reached.
Mark
Is she entirely pessimistic?
Mimi
No. She said we have to take the victories and positive signs we can get, because the situation is so desperate.
Luke
And how long she stays is only an expectation: several days, no more specific than that.
O Pulso
- Thunberg lands in Antalya and immediately calls the UN climate summit hypocritical, setting the tone for a contentious week.
- Her accusation that fossil fuel lobbyists sit inside negotiating rooms puts the credibility of the process itself under scrutiny.
- Turkey and Australia promote renewables and rooftop solar while still leaning heavily on coal, and the gap between pledge and practice is now in the open.
- Turkey's push for electrification, aiming for 35 per cent of global energy by 2035, is being tested against a backdrop of deadly disasters and an energy shock.
- Thunberg plans to stay several days, and observers are watching whether the electrification goal gains real momentum or fades into the summit noise.
Greta Thunberg has arrived in Antalya, where the United Nations climate talks have gathered under the joint hosting of Turkey and Australia, and she has greeted the moment with a familiar judgment: that the gathering is hypocritical and crowded with lobbyists from industries whose profits depend on the status quo. Her charge reaches beyond this year's hosts to every nation that has taken the COP stage, arguing that the honor of hosting can become a way to wash a country's image while its economy keeps burning fuel. The backdrop is a year of deadly heat and flood and a fresh energy shock tied to the Iran war, a reminder that the costs of dependence on fossil fuels are being paid now, not someday. Her message, though sharp, still carries a thread of hope: that every available victory should be seized while there is still something worth saving.
Greta Thunberg arrived at the COP31 climate talks in the Turkish resort city of Antalya and wasted no time in telling reporters what she thinks of the gathering. The annual UN summit, she said, is hypocritical, and its negotiating rooms are filled with lobbyists paid by the destructive industries that benefit from the current order.
Her sharpest point concerns the hosting arrangement itself. Host countries, she argued, are handed a chance to whitewash their reputations, while the real decisions are shaped by people working for fossil fuel interests. This year's co-hosts, Turkey and Australia, both promote renewables and rooftop solar, yet both still depend heavily on coal for electricity. Her criticism reaches back to earlier hosts Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan, all major oil producers.
The talks follow a year of deadly heat waves and floods, and another energy shock caused by the Iran war. Thunberg insists that climate change threatens everything and everyone we love, and that action must serve people rather than sacrificing the majority and the planet so a fortunate few can keep their profits and power.
The visit carries history. It is her first climate summit since Glasgow in 2021, where she dismissed world leaders' promises as "blah, blah, blah." Since she began a solitary school strike outside the Swedish Parliament at 15, she has become one of the world's most recognizable climate voices.
Turkey has placed global electrification at the heart of its agenda, aiming to shift transport, buildings and heavy industry onto electricity generated from solar and wind, reaching 35 per cent of global energy consumption by 2035, up from 23 per cent today. Thunberg, though bleak in her assessment, said that because the situation is so desperate, every victory and every positive sign must be taken to save as much as can still be saved.
She is expected to remain at COP31 for several days. Observers will be watching whether the electrification goal gains traction among negotiators, and whether her challenge to lobbyists and host credibility earns any response from the organisers.
Greta Thunberg arrived at the COP31 climate talks in the Turkish resort city of Antalya and, almost immediately, said what she thinks of the event. The annual UN gathering, she told reporters, is hypocritical, and its negotiating rooms are filled with lobbyists.
Her central charge was aimed at the hosting arrangement. Every year, she said, the host countries are handed an opportunity to whitewash themselves, while the negotiations fill up with people paid by the destructive industries that benefit from what she called an extremely violent status quo. She added that political and economic systems have become incompatible with human nature.
This year's summit is co-hosted by Turkey and Australia. Both governments are promoting renewable energy and rooftop solar installations, but both still rely heavily on fossil fuels, especially coal, to generate electricity. Thunberg's criticism extends to earlier hosts as well: Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan, which held previous summits, are all major oil producers.
The talks come after a year marked by deadly climate-related disasters, including heat waves and floods, and after another energy shock caused by the Iran war. Against that backdrop, Thunberg said climate change is threatening everything, and that everything and everyone we love is at stake. She argued that action should protect and benefit people rather than continuing to sacrifice the global majority and the planet itself so that a fortunate few can keep making unimaginable profits and holding geopolitical power.
The visit carries some history. It is the first climate summit Thunberg has attended since the 2021 talks in Glasgow, Scotland, where she dismissed world leaders' promises as "blah, blah, blah". She became a prominent figure in 2018, when, at 15, she began a solitary School Strike for Climate outside the Swedish Parliament. In 2022 she published The Climate Book, which sets out actions to address the crisis.
Turkey, for its part, has put global electrification at the centre of its agenda. The idea is to move sectors such as transportation, buildings and heavy industry off fossil fuels and onto electricity, ideally generated from renewable sources like solar and wind. Turkey wants electricity to make up 35 per cent of global energy consumption by 2035, up from 23 per cent today.
Thunberg's message was not purely bleak. She said that, because the situation is so desperate, the victories available have to be taken, along with every positive sign, in order to save as much as can still be saved.
She is expected to spend several days at COP31. What to watch is whether the co-hosts' electrification goal gains traction among negotiators, and whether her criticism about lobbyists and host-country credibility draws any response from the organisers.
Citações Notáveis
It's a hypocrisy every year that the host countries are given an opportunity to whitewash themselves.— Greta Thunberg
We have to take the victories we have, because we are so desperate in this situation.— Greta Thunberg
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Leia o original em The Canberra Times ↗