Thunberg calls it ‘absurd’ to listen to Davos elite on climate crisis
IT is “absurd” that people could take seriously the ideas on climate change put forward by the profit-prioritizing business elite gathered at Davos, Greta Thunberg said on Thursday.
The Swedish climate activist said the annual conclave in the Swiss resort town was overwhelmingly dominated by the people “fuelling the destruction of the planet, the people who are at the very core of the climate crisis, the people who are investing in fossil fuels.” “The people we really should be listening to are not here,” Thunberg said in Davos, referring to those on the “front lines” of the planet’s warming.
Thunberg, along with fellow youth campaigners Helena Gualinga, Vanessa Nakate and Luisa Neubauer, spoke at a round table held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
The four of them arrived in Davos after having written an open letter to CEOs that called on them to immediately stop any new fossil fuel projects.
Thunberg was in Switzerland days after being briefly detained by police while at an anti-coal protest in Germany.
She was one of the activists cleared away from the abandoned village of L tzerath in western Germany. The hamlet’s razing to make way for the expansion of a lignite open-cast mine prompted huge protests over the past week.
Video of the world’s most famous climate campaigner being hauled away by officers spread quickly across the internet.
Neubauer, who was with Thunberg at the mine demonstrations, said the scenery was not so different in Davos.
“Whereas we walked through the dirty mud in L tzerath, now we are in Davos watching dirty deals be made. So I am not so sure how much of a change there is.”