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Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has accused world governments of failing to prevent environmental collapse during her first appearance at the annual UN climate summit in five years. Speaking at the Cop31 conference in Antalya, Turkey, the 23-year-old activist declared that the planet is not dying, but is being actively destroyed by those in power.
A Stark Warning on Global Leadership
Thunberg, who rose to international prominence for leading school climate strikes, delivered a blunt message to the delegates gathered in Turkey. She argued that the institutions and states meant to protect humanity are instead threatening human rights. “No one is coming to our rescue,” she stated. “When our human rights are being threatened by states and other institutions, it’s our duty to stand up and be the adult in the room and fight for everyone’s human rights.”
Linking the climate crisis to broader global instability, Thunberg warned that the world is moving toward a future defined by increased genocide, ecocide, and the erosion of basic rights. She emphasized that the situation remains entirely out of control, noting that the planet “is being killed by the very same people thought to come to our rescue.”
Government Responses and Policy Challenges
The summit, now in its fourth day, has seen various world leaders address the slow progress in climate negotiations. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the only G7 leader in attendance, described the record-breaking heat experienced in the UK as abnormal. Burnham pledged that the UK would reach net-zero emissions and expressed support for proposals to further electrify global economies.
While Beth John, a climate justice adviser at Oxfam GB, acknowledged that Burnham’s presence was a positive signal, she warned that declarations are insufficient. “The real test of climate leadership is delivery, not declarations,” she told The Guardian.
Negotiations are currently focused on potential agreements to electrify economies, with some nations pushing for a requirement that this electricity be sourced from clean energy. However, campaigners remain critical of the slow pace of emissions reductions and the lack of consensus on phasing out fossil fuels. A report released Thursday by Climate Action Tracker indicates that current policies are on track to heat the planet by 2.7C by the end of the century, significantly higher than the 1.5C target promised by world leaders.
Impacts of Climate and Conflict
The summit highlighted the severe consequences of environmental change and war. Gita Chaudhary, Nepal’s environment minister, described a devastating landslide in her country caused by a melting glacier that resulted in over 1,500 deaths. “We lost people, we lost lives, we lost property,” Chaudhary told The Guardian. “But the communities, the culture, the lives, we cannot revive.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa also addressed the assembly, receiving a standing ovation as he detailed the environmental destruction caused by the ongoing war in Gaza. He explained that restrictions on water, land, and natural resources, combined with damage to infrastructure, have severely worsened health and environmental risks in the region. The Turkish hosts of the summit have excluded Israeli leadership from the event, citing allegations of genocide, which Israel denies.
The Absence of the United States
The United States has not sent an official delegation to Cop31, following Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the international climate framework. Trump has previously dismissed climate science as a hoax and opposed the expansion of wind energy. Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who attended the summit alongside a group of Democratic lawmakers and governors, criticized the former president, calling him “the biggest loser we’ve seen in a long time on all of these issues” in comments to The Guardian.
Despite recent Democratic electoral successes, California Governor Gavin Newsom cautioned that significant shifts in US climate policy remain unlikely during the remainder of the Trump presidency. “I don’t want to romanticise what this will mean,” Newsom said. “I don’t expect they’ll do anything but double down.”
