Greta Thunberg has said that the planet is “not dying, it is being killed and we know by who” in a stark intervention at the Cop31 climate talks in Antalya, Turkey.
“It is being killed by the very same people thought to come to our rescue,” Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, said. “No one is coming to our rescue.
“When our human rights are being threatened by states and other institutions, it’s our duty to stand up and be the adult in the room and fight for everyone’s human rights.”
Thunberg spoke at a packed press gathering in the Cop31 venue alongside other activists from Nepal, Australia, Palestine and Canada. All of them lambasted governments’ inaction on the climate crisis and called for the end of Turkish energy shipments to Israel, which Thunberg said was “directly feeling the genocide in Palestine.”
“We are heading towards a future of more genocides and more ecocides and the complete compromise of our basic rights and where basic necessities become luxuries,” Thunberg said. “It’s more clear than ever in spaces like these that the situation could not be any less under control, the planet is not dying, it is being killed.”
Thunberg has not attended a Cop since 2021, where in Glasgow she famously said that the talks amounted to “blah, blah, blah”. In this time she has shifted her focus somewhat away from the climate crisis to include causes such as the plight of the Palestinian people.
Her arrival in Turkey has caused much excitement among delegates at Cop, with a throng of people clamouring to speak to her after she finished the press conference.
One of the biggest issues for Cop31 delegates to grapple with is how the crisis affects public health – from pollution to extreme heat.
The UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, who addressed Cop31 earlier, is being called out in this area today by the Green party of England and Wales over the health impacts of more drilling in the North Sea.
With a decision expected soon on whether to go ahead with the huge new Rosebank oilfield, the Greens are insisting the government must carry out – and publish – an official assessment, setting out the impact on the UK’s National Health Service of digging up and burning this vast basin of oil.
Earlier this year the health secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the extreme heat that engulfed the UK during repeated heatwaves had put intense pressure on the NHS.
Climate experts say that extracting more oil from the huge Rosebank oilfield would exacerbate the climate crisis. A study by Oxfam found that the combined lifetime emissions from Rosebank – and the smaller Jackdaw gasfield that was approved last month, would contribute an estimated 65,495 excess heat deaths.
Green MP Carla Denyer said given the UK has a foreign secretary who has called Rosebank climate vandalism, and a health secretary who has admitted this summer’s heatwaves put even more pressure on our NHS, “it is a complete dereliction of duty that ministers seem to have not assessed the health impacts of new oil and gas drilling.”
“After heatwaves are estimated to have cost nearly 3,000 lives, and extreme weather forecast to cause chaos this winter, the government must now come clean on the true impacts of Rosebank,” she added. “And if they haven’t done an assessment of the health impacts, they must delay any decision until this has been completed.”
The decision over the Rosebank field is being carefully watched not just by Green Party supporters, but also by Labour backers and MPs who fear the party is backsliding on some of its climate and wider green policies under Burnham – despite his warm words at Cop today.
On Tuesday more than 20 Labour backbenchers called on the government to reject Rosebank during a debate in parliament.
Denyer, who secured the debate, said in her speech that “the decision whether to approve the climate-wrecking Rosebank oilfield is a defining moment for this government and this parliament.”
“If the Government are clear that climate change is no longer a distant threat and that fossil fuels are driving climate breakdown, why are they not clear that green-lighting Rosebank, the biggest undeveloped oil and gasfield in the North sea, is a complete dereliction of duty?”
Earlier Denyer had submitted a parliamentary question to the government asking if an health impact assessment had been carried out before the decision was taken to allow the Jackdaw field to go ahead.
The government did not answer directly but said the decision had been taken “by the energy secretary alone with no involvement from other ministers” which the Greens took to be a tacit “no.”
Earlier today, climate activist Greta Thunberg told a packed room of journalists: “We are heading towards a future of more genocides and more ecocides and the complete compromise of our basic rights and where basic necessities become luxuries.”
“It’s more clear than ever in spaces like these that the situation could not be any less under control, the planet is not dying, it is being killed.”
Watch the highlights here:
‘Climate change is never far from our minds’
I’ve been interviewing young climate activists at Cop31 this week and today I spoke to Josie Ann Le Blanc, 28, a member of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network in the Commonwealth of Dominica.
She was drawn to climate advocacy after Dominica experienced two catastrophic extreme weather events in two years: Tropical Storm Erika in 2015 and Hurricane Maria in 2017. The cyclones caused historic devastation and destruction on the island, leaving many dead, missing or homeless.
“Being born and raised in Dominica, climate change is never far from our minds. Since the storms in 2015 and 2017, we have also been experiencing record-breaking heatwaves, resulting in droughts, water shortages and health concerns for all, especially those who are particularly vulnerable.
“Climate change continues to mould the way our lives, work and plans for the future are impacted. For me, the climate crisis is not just an environmental concern but also a concern for social justice, economic development and public health.
“At Cop this year, I hope to see stronger commitments towards climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage, and the needs of small island developing states like Dominica. Future climate actions must be informed by those who have lived those experiences and should be inclusive and accountable to those vulnerable communities. Youth should be involved, having meaningful contributions and opportunities to influence decisions and not just be invited to listen.
“Ultimately, climate action should not only be measured by commitments made on international stages but also by the difference made and what communities can feel in their everyday lives.”
The Palestinian conflict has been the focus of this Cop perhaps unlike any other so far. Mohammad Mustafa, the prime minister of Palestine, got a standing ovation when he spoke to delegates today, while yesterday Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, urged the world to recognize the environmental impacts of the three-year war waged by Israel in Gaza.
“What has taken place in Gaza is not only a genocide, but it is also an ecocide,” Erdogan said. Greta Thunberg, in her appearance at Cop, has also condemned Israel, which denies that its killings in Gaza constitute genocide. It was not invited to the gathering of leaders here.
There are visual reminders all around this summit, with several attenders wearing keffieyahs and plenty of interest in the Palestinian pavilion, which sits alongside those of other countries in the Cop31 venue.
“We are here to talk about the environment, not politics,” said one of the staff at the pavilion. Gaza and the West Bank have issues around air pollution and waste management that the Palestinians want to talk about, although it’s hard to separate these things from the impacts of bombardment.
A book for well wishes at the pavilion has been filled with plenty of supportive notes. One of the pavilion’s walls is covered in photos of the destruction and horror of the past three years. None of the Palestinians here are from Gaza as the territory’s borders remain sealed off by Israel, although some have been able to join the summit via video link.
We’ve been hearing from world leaders for the best part of two days now. But one country we’ve not heard from is Israel – one of Turkey’s closest neighbours. And there is a very good reason for that. They have not been invited.
“As the host country for the leaders’ summit, we did not send an invitation to Israel,” Murat Kurum, Turkey’s Cop31 president, told local media, according to The National.
“Of course, we will discuss the climate and climate justice here. We say that there can be no climate justice where peace does not prevail.”
South Korean outlet The Chosun Daily, again citing local media, quoted Kurum as saying: “We will not remain silent about the mass killings in Gaza … Our political stance is clear, and we will maintain this attitude during the conference.”
But while Israel is notable for its absence, in the Cop31 exhibition space a corner has been set aside for the Palestinian delegation. Featuring black cloth hung haphazardly from the ceiling, in a manner reminiscent of refugee tents, the “Gaza tent” seemed to replicate Gaza itself, Chosun Daily noted.
However, none of Gaza’s population was there, only Palestinians from the West Bank. Survivors in Gaza are banned by Israel from international travel.
There was a frenzy of attention upon Greta Thunberg when she appeared this morning in Antalya. I had my toe trodden upon several times in the scrum that formed around someone who spearheaded a surge of global climate activism that has somewhat faded from view amid various other crises in recent years.
The climate crisis hasn’t gone anywhere though, even if political and media attention has, and the activists who stood alongside Thunberg outlined the mounting toll of our overheating planet.
Sagar Dhakal, a Nepalese MP, spoke about how he helped dig people out of the debris of a deadly landslide, caused by a melting glacier along the Nepal-Tibet border, earlier this year. “I don’t think there are words in the dictionary to describe it,” Dhakal said.
“Vulnerable countries need support from the developed world, we need to work together,” she said. “If we all work together we can prevent the next disaster.”
Rikki Dank, an Indigenous Australian who is taking the Australian government to the UN human rights committee over its fossil fuel exports, said that “we need to start demanding better of our governments, not just for ourselves but for our communities.”
Dank took aim at Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister who appeared here yesterday to claim that the co-host was playing its part and was a leader in climate action.
“Our prime minister needs to stop speaking and start listening when we say no to fracking of our country, to stop speaking and start listening when we say no to poisoning of our water and our sacred sites”, she said. “He needs to stop speaking and start listening when the Australian people say no new coal, oil and gas.”
Mohammed Usrof, founder of the Palestinian Institute for Climate Strategy, said that the fossil fuel economy is underpinning what he called a genocide committed by Israel that has killed 20 members of his own family.
“This militarized fossil economy continues to profiteer off genocide but also the complete devastation of our land,” he said. “There’s an intentional act of ecocide and environmental devastation.”
Usrof said that Israel should be removed from the UN framework on climate change, as well as the UN itself, and called on countries including Turkey to stop providing the fuel that is supplying Israel’s military.
Celine Isimbi, born to refugees from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and now living in Canada, criticised Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, for not showing up at the talks but said that even leaders at Cop31 are failing their people.
“Showing up means nothing when families are under rubble, when families have to be rescued from flash flooding,” she said. “Whether they show up or don’t show up, what changes for us on the ground is nothing because they aren’t putting their money where their mouths are, they aren’t meeting our material demands.”
That brings us to the end of the leaders’ speeches. Some themes seemed to repeat. Time and again over the last two days, leaders from poor, low-emitting countries urged rich polluters to stump up more cash. Small island states pleaded for emissions cuts that would limit how much global heating overshoots the 1.5C target. Rich countries (those that showed, at least) were enthusiastic about electrification. Only a few of them, though, were also willing to call out fossil fuels.
Now the heads of state have come and gone, more of the attention at Cop31 will go to the negotiations happening behind closed doors.
Ruslan Edelgeriyev, special representative of the president of the Russian Federation on climate issues, said the future is in “natural gas and viable new technologies”.
He added that “while politicians argue, actual problems” are being solved by clean energy businesses in Russia, and that “states should preserve the sovereign right” to choose their “optimal energy balance”.
No standing ovation there.
Hello, it’s Ajit Niranjan here again, taking back the blog from my colleague Matthew Pearce.
We’ve just heard from Kang Kum-Sil, South Korea’s climate ambassador, who has spoken about some of what her country – a major coal consumer – is doing to electrify. She’s also echoing what many leaders have said about geopolitical crises. “Cop31 must demonstrate that multilateral cooperation remains an effective means of addressing climate change.”
Every day during Cop31 we are hearing from people affected by the climate crisis. Earlier this week, we published a powerful testimony from Darcy Ruddy, the owner-operator of an excavation company in western Canada.
Just before a wildfire swept through parts of his home town, Jasper, he was finishing work at a nearby luxury heliskiing lodge. Climate change made the higher temperatures the week before the fire and the day it ignited more likely. This is his story:
I’d landed this big job at a heliskiing lodge in Valemount. I finished 95% and was excited because I was going on this mountain biking trip in the Chilcotins [mountain range]. I was like: “I’m just going to leave the machines here. I’ll go home tonight, grab my camper van, and I’ll move them when I get back.” Had I not done that, I would have lost everything.
As I was driving back into town, there was this intense warm air. It was nice out, but it was stormy. I made a joke that morning: “Big lightning come to town tonight? About time Jasper burns.” Didn’t expect it to happen but, as I drove into town, I looked at my gas gauge and I was like: “I better go fill this thing up.”
At home, I pulled my van into the back. I was looking at the sky and enjoying a leftover gin and tonic. I was like: “Something doesn’t feel right.” My buddy Alex messaged me: “There was a lightning strike out here. I see open flame.” I turned on my radio and my buddy, who works for parks, was evacuating a campground. I could hear the intensity in his voice. Holy fuck, this is it.
I called my dad. He was out for dinner with a friend. I was like: “Dad, pay for dinner, get the hell out of there. We got to start packing.”
Nthomeng Majara, deputy prime minister of Lesotho, reminded world leaders that small countries like hers suffer the worst impacts of climate change, “despite contributing negligibly to greenhouse gas emissions”.
She said that people of Lesotho are facing adverse effects of changing rainfall patterns, recurrent droughts, floods, land degradation and other climate risks, which affected food production and security.
“Countries that have contributed least to the problem should not bear a disproportionate burden of its consequences, she said. “Global climate action must be guided by equity and respective capabilities.
She called for climate finance to be scaled up and made more accessible, for financing arrangements to not exacerbate debt, and for adaptation to be made a global priority.
Fatafehi Fakafanua, prime minister of Tonga, said the developed world must “finally meet its moral and legal duties” to reduce emissions and help smaller economies reduce theirs.
“At forums like this, we’ve been told that we ask too much – that our red lines are unreasonable,” he said. “We all have a part to play. For when these meetings end, each of us, must live with our conscience. What we know to do, we cannot leave it undone.
“Antalya must be the turning point where the developed world finally meets its moral and legal duties.”
Matthew Wale, prime minister of Solomon Islands, said his country is in “perpetual climate disaster recovery mode” because of climate breakdown.
“As I speak, my people face a protracted El Niño, while recovering from a category 5 cyclone. We remain in a perpetual climate disaster recovery mode.
“There must be some moral thinking on this. The Cop31 climate action agenda targets must result in tangible outcomes.”
He called on leaders to start publishing “pledge disbursement timelines” to spotlight whether climate finance is making its way to small economies, and independent tracking on delivery.
The prime minister of Lebanon, Nawaf Salam, said climate rehabilitation must be woven into rehabilitating the country from Israel’s war on Lebanon.
“The environmental scars of war will affect ecosystems, livelihoods of communities for years to come,” he said. “Recovery therefore must go beyond rebuilding homes and rebuilding homes and roads. It must restore agricultural roads, rehabilitate ecosystems and revive livelihoods.”
“Lebabnon insists that environmental restoration and climate resistance be integral to the reconstruction, alongside stability, the restoration of our sovereignty, and respect for international law.”
“Showing up is not enough”. That’s the message that civil society organisations have for Andy Burnham. The UK prime minister spoke at Cop31 earlier, underlining that Britain was “ready to play its full part” in tackling the climate crisis.
While broadly welcoming his making the effort to actually go to the summit, green groups have been sceptical about his intervention. Beth John, Oxfam GB’s climate justice adviser, said Burnham’s appearance “sends a positive signal”.
But, she added: “Showing up is not enough: a crisis of this scale needs substantive action, not just signals. The real test of climate leadership is delivery, not declarations.”
Burnham indicated his support for Turkey’s called for increased electrification, which has been a major target of Cop31. But without nuance, that target risks embedding global inequalities, pointed out Leon Sealey-Huggins, senior climate justice campaigner at War On Want.
“The Cop’s 35% electrification target is based on extending current global energy inequalities,” Sealey-Huggins said. “According to various scenarios used in the IEA’s analyses that inform its targets, the US is projected to consume five times more energy per capita than in South Asia, and 17 times Africa’s per capita energy consumption.
“Worse, the electrification pledge can only be realised if climate finance is provided to those countries that need it, including those 730 million people who still lack access to electricity.”
Mohammed Mustafa, prime minister of Palestine, received a standing ovation to his speech. He said despite the Israel’s destruction of Gaza, Palestine remains committed to reaching its climate targets. He went on to implore world leaders to do more to help the people of his country.
“Our message from Palestine is clear: no people should be deprived of the right declined of the right [to climate justice] because of occupation,” he said. “We still need your support.”
