Transcript - Greta Thunberg's Speech at The U
Transcript - Greta Thunberg's Speech at The U
Transcript - Greta Thunberg's Speech at The U
greta-thunbergs-speech-at-the-u-n-climate-action-summit#:~:text=%22You%20are
%20failing%20us.,We%20will%20never%20forgive%20you.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate Action Summit in
New York City on Monday. Here's the full transcript of Thunberg's speech, beginning
with her response to a question about the message she has for world leaders.
"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side
of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people 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 fairy tales 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're doing enough when the politics and
"You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and
angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the
situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to
believe.
"The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50%
chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible
"Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping
points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the
aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking
hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely
exist. "So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the
consequences.
"To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – the
best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] – the world had
420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already
"How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some
technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be
"There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here
today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature
"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
line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.
“Thank You”