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Greta Thunberg speech in full: Read the climate activist's damning message to the UN


Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, condemned on Monday world leaders for failing to adequately address . Speaking at the UN Climate Action Summit on September 23, Ms Thunberg accused past generations of “stealing her dreams and childhood”. The speech was met with an equal amount of thunderous applause and criticism. Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, found himself among those who .

Prince Harry, who is supporting a forest conservation project in Botswana, said: “Genuinely, I don’t understand how anyone in this world, whoever we are – you, us, children, leaders, whoever it is – no one can deny science, otherwise we live in a very, very troubling world.”

Ms Thunberg’s UN speech was also welcomed by the Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres.

He said: “My generation has failed in its responsibility to protect our planet. That must change.”

However, by the likes of US President Donald Trump.

France’s Education Minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, also and questioned the validity of her climate change concerns.

Read Ms Thunberg’s entire 495-word speech in full below.

Greta Thunberg speech at the UN in full:

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be standing here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to me for hope? How dare you!

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing.

“We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

“For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you are doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

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“With today’s emissions levels, our remaining CO2 budget will be gone in less than 8.5 years.

“You say you ‘hear’ us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I don’t want to believe that. Because if you fully understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And I refuse to believe that.

“The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50 per cent chance of staying below 1.5C degrees, and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

“Maybe 50 per cent is acceptable to you. But those numbers don’t include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of justice and equity.

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“To have a 67 per cent chance of staying below a 1.5C global temperature rise – the best odds given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world had 420 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide left to emit back on January 1, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatonnes.

“How dare you pretend that this can be solved with business-as-usual and some technical solutions. With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone in less than eight and a half years.

“There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures today. Because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

“You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.”



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