Greta Thunberg
Shutterstock

Thunberg Says Climate Conference a Scam, UN Calls for Rapid Societal Change

Greta Thunberg says the UN climate conference is a scam, making opportunities for people in power amid various ‘greenwashing,’ while the UN says the only solution to stop climate disaster is rapid societal change.

Greta Thunberg says the UN climate conference is a scam – won’t be attending

Greta Thunberg says she will not be attending the COP27, the annual climate conference, which takes place this year from 6-18 November in Egypt, Unilad reported.

The 19-year-old climate activist says there are many reasons she’s not going, but foremost among them is that she sees the event – which will host more than 45,000 registered COP27 participants representing political parties, UN and regional organizations, businesses, the scientific community, indigenous and local communities, and civil society – as “a scam.”

“I’m not going to COP27 for many reasons,” Thunberg said, “but the space for civil society this year is extremely limited.”

“The COPs are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing,” Thunberg continued. “As it is, the COPs are not really working, unless, of course, we use them as an opportunity to mobilize, which we must try to do, and make people realize what a colossal scam this is.”

UN calls for rapid societal change to save climate

The United Nations environment agency has put forth a dire warning that there is “no credible pathway to 1.5C in place,” concluding that progress toward the internationally agreed target has been “woefully inadequate.”

This failure to reduce carbon emissions leaves only an extreme pathway in order to limit the worst impacts of the climate crisis: “rapid transformation of societies.”

At last year’s Cop26 climate summit, countries agreed to increase their pledges, but only a couple of dozen have done so. With the Cop27 climate summit just days away, new pledges would only shave a mirror 1 percent off of emissions in 2030, The Guardian reported.

Now, the only way to achieve the 1.5C target would be for global emissions to drop by almost 50% from where they are now by 2030.

“Emissions remain at dangerous and record highs and are still rising,” said UN secretary general, António Guterres. “We must close the emissions gap before climate catastrophe closes in on us all.”

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report stated that through government action, the required societal transformation could be achieved. According to the report, among the rapid transformations necessary are redirecting the international financial system, regulations, and taxes, as well as changes to consumer behavior.

Breaking patterns that create greenhouse gases

According to the UN report, roughly a third of climate-heating emissions come from the global food system, which is set to double by 2050.

The report called on all sectors to avoid advances in new fossil fuel infrastructure, contrary to plans in many countries to develop new oil and gas fields, citing a “large consensus” across all published research that new oil and gas fields are “incompatible” with the 1.5C target.

The report also stated that redirecting global financial flows to green investments is vital. The assessment comes as US state and federal legislators reject moves by pension funds to back low-carbon investments.