Greta Thunberg has told Australians to wake up and treat the climate crisis like the emergency it is ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, due to be held in Egypt in two days’ time.
The Swedish climate activist spoke to Sarah Ferguson on the ABC’s 7.30 program on Thursday, where she doubled down on her criticism of the COP climate summits, saying they have become an opportunity for big polluters to greenwash.
“As it is now, the COPs are not designed to really change anything. That’s not why they exist and right now it’s like they are being turned into an opportunity for big polluters to greenwash themselves,” she told Ferguson.
She said big polluters and political leaders “use words against us, use greenwashing in order to make it seem like they are doing something when they are not” and use “PR tactics and communications strategies disguised as politics”.
“The way that COP27 would for me be considered a success or a step forward would be that more people realise what a scam it actually is, under current circumstances.”
Speaking about the election of the new Albanese government in Australia, Thunberg said Australians need to continue to pressure its elected officials to do more.
“Wake up and treat the climate emergency like an emergency,” she said, when asked what her message to Australia was.
“It seems like many people in Australia think that now we have a new government, now everything will be fine. Of course, that is very, very far from true.”
“Of course, there are some parties and some governments that are a bit less worse than some others. But as long as we treat the climate crisis like a side topic or as a political issue among other political issues, we will not see it as the emergency it is.”
Thunberg said it’s still possible for us to avert the worst consequences of climate change, “but not if we continue like we are now”.
“People often ask me whether I’m a pessimist or an optimist when it comes to saving the climate. And I always say that I’m a realist,” she said.
“There is certainly opportunities and chances for us to be able to save what we can possibly save but as long as we continue like we are now, there’s not very much hope in sight.”
Thunberg said it’s time to move away from a focus on individual behaviour and have a more systemic approach.
“It’s impossible to live sustainably today and that’s one of the main reasons I chose to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, twice, to show that it’s completely impossible to even try to live sustainably because our societies are not built like that,” she said.
Thunberg also said national targets to achieve “net zero by 2050” do not go far enough and do not consider the need for global equity on emissions reduction.
“These are cherry-picked dates based on carbon budgets which do not give us a big chance of meeting our internationally agreed targets. It also excludes many factors like tipping points and feedback loops,” she said.
“[Net zero by 2050] is also completely dependent on negative emissions technologies that do not exist at scale. They also include many loopholes for example, burning biomass is considered to carbon neutral but in the short run it means even more carbon emissions per unit than many fossil fuels.
“When scientists talk about it, it’s a global target. If countries like Australia, like Sweden, say that we are going to reach net zero by 2050, that means that we completely give up considering any kind of global equity and we completely close the door to any kind of future global climate movements.
“The climate crisis is a community crisis. If we ignore historical emissions that have been spent predominantly by the nations in the global north, then we will not be able to solve this crisis.”
Thunberg said it’s time to “heed the principles of safety”.
“It seems like for every issue, apart from the climate issue, we go for the safest option.”
Watch Greta Thunberg’s full interview with 7.30 below.