Teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg claims that world leaders are running out of time to deal with the issue of climate change, and says that 'nothing has been done' thus far to avert a global catastrophe.
Speaking just a few hours before President Donald Trump was due to take the stage at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, Thunberg told the assembled gathering of the world's political, business and financial elite, that although awareness of the climate crisis had increased, any political response had been apathetic.
Thunberg previously delivered this stern ultimatum to world leaders:The Swedish activist, who was named TIME magazine's Person of the Year for 2019, stated: "Pretty much nothing has been done since the global emissions of CO2 has not reduced. If you see it from that aspect, what has concretely been done, if you see it from a bigger perspective, basically nothing ... it will require much more than this, this is just the very beginning."
Thunberg also spoke about the findings of a 2018 Intergovernmental report, which claims that keeping the rise in temperatures to under 1.5 degrees over the next few years is dependent on limiting global carbon dioxide to under 420 gigatons. At current levels, this amount will be emitted over the next eight-to-nine years.
Thunberg continued: "I don't think I have seen one media outlet or person in power communicating this or what it means. I know you don't want to report on this. I know you don't want to talk about this. But I assure you I will continue to repeat these numbers until you do... I'm not the person who can complain about not being heard - I'm being heard all the time."
Not long after this, President Trump took to the stage to deride so-called "prophets of doom", and rejected "predictions of the apocalypse" in the name of building up American industry.
Per BBC News, Thunberg opened a session on "Averting a Climate Apocalypse" in response, in which she stated: "I've been warned that telling people to panic about the climate crisis is a very dangerous thing to do ... You say, 'We won't let you down. Don't be so pessimistic.' And then, silence."