Joe Biden has been criticized by Greta Thunberg for failing to lead the fight against climate change.
Greta Thunberg said: “I really see the value of friendship. Apart from the climate, almost nothing else matters”
The Guardian reports that the Swedish activist, 18, rejects the notion that the US president is a climate leader in an interview with Washington Post.
“It’s strange that people think of Joe Biden as a leader for the climate when you see what his administration is doing,” she voiced.
“The US is actually expanding fossil fuel infrastructure.
“Why is the US doing that? It should not fall on us activists and teenagers who just want to go to school to raise this awareness and to inform people that we are actually facing an emergency.”
Thunberg told reporters that politicians like Biden should do the following: “First of all, (we) have to understand what is the emergency.
“We are trying to find a solution to a crisis that we don’t understand … it’s all about the narrative. It’s all about, what are we actually trying to solve? Is it this emergency, or is it this emergency?”
The Cop26 climate summit, which took place in November, was described by Thunberg as “a failure”, asserting it “turned into a PR event” in which “leaders are not doing anything” except “actively creating loopholes and shaping frameworks” to profit from the “destructive system”.
During an interview with The Washington Post, Thunberg said that an agreement at Cop26 “which is very much an achievement” will be meaningless unless it boosts ambition, which then inspires leaders to act.
She noted that one of the positives of Cop26 was that it proved that “under current circumstances, within current systems, we won’t be able to solve the climate crisis unless there is massive pressure from the outside”.
The Conference of the Parties (COP26) presents a huge opportunity to mobilize public opinion against climate change, Thunberg said.
According to Biden, the United States will “lead by example” in the fight to avoid global warming beyond 1.5C. He also committed to reversing deforestation and reducing methane emissions.
The US, however, did not appear on the list of more than 40 countries that pledged to end coal mining.
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Global oil and gas production is expected to rise 20 years from now at a rate resulting in double the fossil fuel production in 2030 and consistent with a 1.5C rise in temperature, according to a recent report by the UN environment program.
US oil and gas production is expected to increase by 17% and 12% by 2030, respectively, according to the report.
There have been at least 3,091 new drilling permits approved on public lands by the Biden administration, at a rate of 223 permits per month. This is a rate faster than that of the Trump administration.
Also, over 80m acres of seabed were offered for auction in the US’s largest-ever Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease auction, held last November.
The Post quoted Thunberg as saying: “What’s holding us back is that we lack the political will.
“Our goal is to find a solution that allows us to continue life [as it is] today,” she said. “… but the uncomfortable truth is that we have left it too late for that. Or the world leaders have left it too late for that.
“We need to fundamentally change our societies now. If we would have started 30 years ago, it would have been smoother. But now it’s a different situation.”
