Swedish Environmental activist Greta Thunberg says she’s is unimpressed with the world’s politicians and singled out Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her lack of action on climate change.
That’s despite Ardern in June calling climate change a “life or death” issue after the Climate Change Commission’s final advice to the Government was released in April.
The Commission’s report showed New Zealand was not on track to meet its 2050 emission targets.
It says while Covid-19 lockdown and border restrictions saw New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions fall 4.5 percent in the year ending March 2021, this assessment was shortlived.
It changed the following month when it was revealed New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions had actually increased by 2 percent in 2019.
“It’s funny that people believe Jacinda Ardern and people like that are climate leaders,” Thunberg comments.
“That just tells you how little people know about the climate crisis,” she said.
Ardern is by no means the only politician Thunberg fingers for failing to make any headway with climate change action.
In fact, the 18-year old says she can’t think of a single politician who has impressed her in this respect.
“Obviously the emissions haven’t fallen. It goes without saying that these people are not doing anything.”
In fact, it’s all a lot of “blah” she says.
Speaking at a youth climate summit in Milan last week, Thunberg mocked UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, saying:
“Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah blah blah. Net-zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah.”
The 400 climate activists from 180 countries at the three-day summit in Milan will send their recommendations to a major United Nations climate summit in Glasgow which will begin on 31 October.
Martyn Bradbury, writer of The Daily Blog agrees with Thunberg’s comments.
“Becoming carbon neutral by 2050 is unlikely,” he says. He lists the following concerns to back his view:
- By 2030, over 50% of the oceans will be collapsing as bio-habitats.
- By 2030, East Coast cities in the U.S. can expect to see two to three-times as many flooding incidents.
- By 2030, 122 million will be driven into extreme poverty as direct result of climate change.
- By 2030, 100 million will die as a direct consequence of climate change.
- By 2030, even if the Paris Agreement is actually implemented, we will see a planet warm to 3.4 degrees by the end of this century meaning there will effectively be no future civilisation capable of surviving on a planet that warm.
- By 2030, the global annual cost of global warming will be $3 trillion.
- By 2030, the number of extremely hot days — classified as maximum temperatures of more than 35C — are tipped to climb in all capital cities.
Climate Change Minister James Shaw will be representing New Zealand at the Glasgow conference.
He wants New Zealand’s emission reduction pathway to be ambitious, affordable and have a genuine partnership with Māori.
Budget 2021 invested billions in rail, electric vehicles, and funding for the agriculture sector to help bring its emissions down.
Source
- TVNZ
- The Daily Blog
- Image: BBC
