The Swedish climate activist, once again present on the sidelines of the Davos Forum, a symbol of financial globalization, denounces a world where the greed of some is worth more than the sacrificed lives of others.
It has become a must for Greta Thunberg. For three years, the Swedish climate activist has been going through the Davos box to insult the financiers and bosses of large companies from all over the world who meet in the posh ski resort in Switzerland. This Thursday she accused the World Economic Forum of “bringing together the people who are driving the destruction of the planet the most”. She wants to talk, but finds it “absurd” to listen to them. “We seem to be listening to them more than the people who are actually affected by the climate crisis, the people who are living on the front lines, and that shows us how absurd the situation is,” she said during an event organized on the sidelines of the world gathering.
Davos, where multinational CEOs, bankers, influential heads of state and billionaires meet, is “where the people who are most driving the destruction of the planet are, the people who are at the heart of the climate crisis, people who are obsessed with fossil fuels Fuels invest fuels etc,” Greta Thunberg swung, accusing her of putting “greed” and “short-term economic gains ahead of people and above the planet.” “These people will go as far as they can and for as long as they can while they make it. They will keep investing in fossil fuels, they will keep sacrificing people for their own gain,” she said.
A petition to stop fossil fuels has 870,000 signatures
Greta Thunberg spoke during a conversation with other young climate activists and the Director General of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol. “My presence here is a very important signal that I want to give to the world,” said the latter. “Climate change needs more attention. Unfortunately, that attention is declining,” he lamented, while massive investments in clean energy are needed. “Without massive public pressure from outside […] They will continue to invest in fossil fuels, they will continue to sacrifice people for their own gain,” repeated the young activist a few days after her brief arrest in Germany.
Greta Thunberg was accompanied by three other climate activists: Helena Gualinga from Ecuador, Vanessa Nakate from Uganda and Luisa Neubauer from Germany. They arrived in Davos with a petition launched this week urging multinationals to stop exploiting fossil fuels. The text had collected more than 870,000 signatures as of Wednesday evening. “We come from different places in the world but we have the same proposal. It’s a call to say, “We’re fed up! We’re fed up because we’ve said it several times, we need to act urgently,” said Helena Gualinga.
Greta Thunberg is not coming to Davos for the first time. The 2020 edition was notably marked by his skirmishes with US President Donald Trump. It was time for “panic”, because “the house is on fire”, she hammered back then. But climate is a hot topic at this year’s Global Forum. On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for oil companies to be prosecuted like tobacco companies for years of hiding information about global warming.