Climate and environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Monday asked the world to remember the promises it made to safeguard the environment in the wake of the crisis situation that has been created and inflicted on the present generation because of their wrongdoings.
In a statement issued during the ongoing online Davos Agenda Summit, the young climate activist said the world must remember the promises it made to children and grandchildren.
"My name is Greta Thunberg and I am not here to make deals. You see, I don't belong to any financial interest or political party. So I can't bargain or negotiate. I am only here to once again remind you of the emergency we are in. The crisis that you and your predecessors have created and inflicted upon us. The crisis that you continue to ignore," she said.
She further said she was there to remind the world of the promises that it had made to their children and grandchildren and to tell it that there was no question of any compromise on the very minimum safety levels that still remain.
"The climate and ecological crisis can unfortunately no longer be solved within today's systems. According to the current best available science that is no longer an opinion; that's a fact," she said.
Ms. Thunberg further said there is a need to keep it in mind as countries, businesses and investors now rush forward to present their new so-called ambitious climate targets and commitments.
"The longer we avoid this uncomfortable truth, and the longer we pretend we can solve the climate - and ecological emergency - without treating it as a crisis — the more precious time we will lose. And this is time we do not have," she said.
Ms. Thunberg further said that leaders and nations all over the world are speaking of an existential climate emergency, but instead of taking immediate action in an emergency, they set up vague, insufficient, hypothetical targets way into the future, like 'net-zero 2050'.
She said these were targets based on loopholes and incomplete numbers and targets that equal surrender.
"It's like waking up in the middle of the night, seeing your house on fire, then deciding to wait 10, 20, or 30 years before you call the fire department while labeling those trying to wake people up as alarmists.
"We understand that the world is very complex and that change doesn’t happen overnight. But you have now had more than three decades of blah blah blah. How many more do you need? Because when it comes to facing the climate and ecological emergency, the world is still in a state of complete denial," she said.
Ms. Thunberg said the justice for the most affected people in the most affected areas is being systematically denied.
She said she was not here to tell anyone what to do, as safeguarding the future living conditions and preserving life on earth as we know it is was voluntary.
"The choice is yours to make. But I can assure you this. You can't negotiate with physics. And your children and grandchildren will hold you accountable for the choices that you make. How's that for a deal?" Ms. Thunberg asked.
