Greta speaks at climate summit
On 23 September, world leaders and environmental activists, including Greta Thunberg, met in New York, in the US, to discuss plans to tackle climate change. Climate change means long-term changes in world weather patterns that are partly due to human activities.
A few days before the Climate Action Summit on 20 September, millions of students across the world missed school to stage protests demanding that governments do more to protect the planet. Thunberg told the protesters in New York that they would make the world leaders “hear us”.
At the summit, Thunberg told world leaders and business people that young people were watching them, and urged them to take immediate action. She said, “The world is waking up, and change is coming whether you like it or not.”
The summit was organised by the United Nations (UN) – an organisation of 193 countries that protects international peace and security. Its aim was to make countries keep the promises they made in 2016 to limit global temperature rises. Most countries are not meeting their targets. At the summit, around 70 countries promised to do more to fight climate change. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to give access to up to £1 billion to develop new technologies for tackling climate change. US president Donald Trump appeared briefly, but leaders from Australia, Brazil, Japan and Saudi Arabia chose not to attend.
Thunberg and 15 young people have started legal action against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey for not doing enough to tackle climate change, despite knowing the damage it is doing.