Donald Trump responds after Greta Thunberg berates world leaders at UN climate summit
Donald Trump has appeared to mock an impassioned speech made by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg.
US President Donald Trump has appeared to mock an impassioned speech made by 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg at the UN climate summit in New York.
A visibly angry Thunberg berated world leaders as she addressed a UN climate summit, accusing them of betraying her generation by failing to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and asking “How dare you?”
The Swedish teen, who has become the global face of the growing youth movement against climate inaction, began by telling her audience: “My message is that we’ll be watching you,” eliciting laughter.
But it was soon clear that the tone of the message would be very serious. “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back at school on the other side of the ocean,” the 16-year-old, who is taking a year off from her studies, said.
“You come to us young people for hope. How dare you?” she thundered. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing.
“We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is the money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
“She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!” Mr Trump tweeted, alongside a clip of the speech.
She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see! https://t.co/1tQG6QcVKO
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
Thunberg added that in her talks with leaders, she had been told that the youth were being heard and the urgency was understood.
“But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that, because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil, and that I refuse to believe.”
Thunberg, who often appears uncomfortable in the limelight and is seen as a reluctant leader, then detailed the various targets that were being missed, heightening the risk of “irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.”
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She also took aim at the summit called by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to ask countries to expand their commitments saying: “There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable, and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.”
“You are failing us,” she concluded. “But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal.
“The eyes of all future generations, are upon you, And if you choose to fail us. I say, we will never forgive you!”
A clip of US President Donald Trump walking past the teen climate activist in the corridors of the United Nations in New York has gone viral. The video, shows Mr Trump walking past the 16-year-old Swede who was behind him.
The video appeared to have been originally filmed by the Reuters news agency, which was following the president as he made a three-day visit to New York for the UN General Assembly.
Teen climate activist @GretaThunberg watched on as Trump arrived at the #UNGA, where the president promptly shrugged off fresh impeachment threats https://t.co/Rx1nH4hRQi pic.twitter.com/2c8Im4lDJP
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 23, 2019
Leader after leader told the United Nations that they will do more to prevent a warming world from reaching even more dangerous levels. But as they made their pledges at the Climate Action Summit, they and others conceded it was not enough.
Sixty-six countries have promised to have more ambitious climate goals and 30 swore to be carbon neutral by midcentury, said Chilean President Sebastian Pinera Echenique, who is hosting the next climate negotiations later this year. Outside experts say they hear a lot of talk but not the promised action needed to keep warming to a few tenths of a degree. They say it isn’t adding up to the dramatic changes the world requires.
Mr Trump listened to German Chancellor Angela Merkel make detailed pledges, including going coal-free, and left without saying anything.
The United States did not ask to have someone speak at the summit, UN officials said. And Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had told countries they couldn’t be on the agenda without making bold new proposals.
While presidents and premiers talked about what they hoped to do inside their own borders, French President Emmanuel Macron reminded them they must include climate change in their trade and finance policies so they don’t import goods that increase carbon pollution, or fund polluting plants in other countries. Mr Macron begged other nations to increase their pledges to the Green Climate Fund, which helps poorer nations with climate issues. France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden have recently doubled their pledges. “We are now at $7 billion,” Mr Macron said. “The target is $10 billion to make up for the United States withdrawal,” and he then suggested America should reconsider adding money, to the applause of other leaders.
AFP, AP
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