Updated
Greta Thunberg, the teen activist from Sweden who has
urged immediate action to address a global climate crisis, has been
named Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2019.
Key points:
- Author Margaret Atwood compared Greta Thunberg to Joan of Arc
- Former US Vice President Al Gore, a longtime environmentalist, said the magazine made a "brilliant choice"
- Ms Thunberg, speaking at COP25, accused political leaders of "clever accounting and creative PR"
Sixteen-year-old Ms Thunberg was lauded by the Time magazine for starting an environmental campaign in August 2018 that became a global movement, initially skipping school and camping in front of the Swedish Parliament to demand action.
"In the 16 months since, she has addressed heads of state at the UN, met with the Pope, sparred with the President of the United States and inspired 4 million people to join the global climate strike on September 20, 2019, in what was the largest climate demonstration in human history," the magazine said.
"Margaret Atwood compared her to Joan of Arc. After noticing a hundredfold increase in its usage, lexicographers at Collins Dictionary named Thunberg's pioneering idea, climate strike, the word of the year."
But the reluctant celebrity, who has been chased by cameras and attracted large crowds at the Madrid conference, has urged the press to hear from other activists and indigenous youth instead.
Former Vice President Al Gore, a longtime environmentalist, said the magazine made a "brilliant choice."
"Greta embodies the moral authority of the youth activist movement demanding that we act immediately to solve the climate crisis. She is an inspiration to me and to people across the world," Mr Gore said.
Speaking from the UN climate summit in Madrid, Ms Thunberg said she wanted to dedicate the award to all young activists.
"I was very surprised when I found out because it's so ... I could never have imagined anything like that happening. It's so unexpected, so I am of course very grateful for that, very honoured," she said.
"But as I have said before, I should not be the one to be person of the year, it should be everyone in the Fridays for Future movement because what we have done, we have done together."
Other nominees for person of the year included President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Thunberg accuses leaders of 'creative PR' at summit
Ms Thunberg, who turns 17 in January, continues to beat the drum, saying at the UN's COP25 climate talks in Madrid that the voices of climate strikers are being heard but politicians are still not taking action.Addressing the summit on Wednesday, she accused business and political leaders of misleading the public by holding climate talks that are not achieving real action against what she has called the world's "climate emergency."
In a speech peppered with scientific facts about global warming, Ms Thunberg told negotiators they have to stop looking for loopholes for their countries' actions and face up to the ambition that is needed to protect the world from a global warming disaster.
"The real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening, when in fact almost nothing is being done, apart from clever accounting and creative PR," Ms Thunberg said"Finding holistic solutions is what the COP should be all about, but instead it seems to have turned into some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition," she added, to wide applause.
About 40 climate activists, including representatives of indigenous peoples from several continents, briefly joined Ms Thunberg after her speech on the conference's main stage, holding hands and demanding "Climate Justice!" through slogans and songs.
'This is misleading'
The climate talks today entered uncharted waters, with ministers trying to agree on rules for a global carbon market and possible ways to compensate vulnerable countries for disasters caused by global warming.
World leaders agreed in Paris four years ago to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, ideally no more than 1.5 C by the end of the century.
Scientists say countries will miss both of those goals by a wide margin unless drastic steps are taken to begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions next year.
Johan Rockstrom, director of the Postdam Institute of Climate Studies, and one of the most revered scientists on the issue, said for 20 years "we have underestimated the pace of change and we have underestimated the risks we are facing."
Addressing the heads of delegations, activists and non-governmental organisations at the climate talks, Mr Rockstrom said under the current scenario, the planet is heading to warming by 3 to 4 degrees in only 80 years.
He said that could create an environment unseen on earth for more than 4 million years and could trigger disastrous domino effects for human life.
"We stand on an unprecedented mountain of truth," he said. "If nature fails, we fail as well."
Following him, Ms Thunberg cited the same reports, insisting that national pledges to reduce emissions weren't enough.
She said to avoid disaster, carbon needs to remain underground and that the greenhouse gases responsible for rising temperatures need to be zeroed.
"This is not leading, this is misleading," she told the plenary, adding that "every fraction of a degree matters."
"Zero in 2050 means nothing if high emission continues even for a few years.
"To stay below 1.5 degrees we need to keep the carbon in the ground."
ABC/wires
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