By Vera, Vocemundi · 2026-11-12
Greta Thunberg addressed the Cop31 UN climate summit and said the planet is being killed. The Guardian and Al Jazeera both reported her remarks.
"It's more clear than ever in spaces like these that the situation could not be any less under control. The planet is not dying, it is being killed," Thunberg said, according to the Guardian. The Guardian also quoted her as saying Earth is "being killed by the very same people thought to come to our rescue". The reports do not say whom she meant by "we know by who".
According to the Guardian, it was her first appearance at the annual UN climate talks in five years. The Guardian describes her as a 23-year-old Swedish activist who became known for leading the school climate strike movement. It says she has recently shifted her focus to other issues, including the conflict in Gaza. She appeared alongside activists from Nepal, Canada and Australia and linked rising temperatures to other calamities, including war.
The summit
According to the Guardian, Cop31 is being held in Antalya, Turkey, and is jointly presided over by Turkey and Australia. Thunberg spoke on the fourth day of the two-week summit. The Guardian reports that Andy Burnham, whom it identifies as British prime minister, was the only G7 leader to attend.
The United States did not send a delegation, according to the Guardian. Donald Trump has withdrawn the country from the international climate framework. Former US secretary of state John Kerry travelled to Turkey with 20 Democratic members of Congress and two state governors.
A Climate Action Tracker report released on Thursday found that current policies are set to heat the planet by 2.7C by the end of the century, according to the Guardian. That is well above the 1.5C limit world leaders have committed to. The reports do not describe the projection's methodology.
What each side says
- Thunberg: "No one is coming to our rescue," she said, according to the Guardian. She warned of "a future of more genocides and more ecocides".
- Burnham: "The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it is upon us all now," he said, according to the Guardian. He pledged UK net zero and backed further electrification.
- Oxfam GB: Beth John said: "Showing up is not enough."
- Nepal: Environment minister Gita Chaudhary told the Guardian about a landslide in August that killed more than 1,500 people: "We call the catastrophic climate change event we suffered a mountain tsunami."
- Palestine: Mohammad Mustafa, identified by the Guardian as prime minister, said Israel's restrictions "have compounded Palestine's climate challenges". Turkey did not invite Israel's leadership. Turkey has accused Israel of genocide. Israel denies this.
- US figures: Asked by the Guardian about Trump, Kerry called him "the biggest loser we've seen in a long time on all of these issues". California governor Gavin Newsom said: "I don't expect they'll do anything but double down."
Analysis
Thunberg's return to the UN talks puts a high-profile activist voice next to official pledges. According to the Guardian, campaigners say governments are cutting emissions too slowly. They also say governments have not yet agreed to phase out fossil fuels. One possible outcome is a commitment on electrification. Another possibility is that countries fail to agree on whether that electricity must come from clean sources. The absence of a US delegation is another open question for the talks. According to the Guardian, some attendees hope for renewed US engagement after the Democrats' midterm results. Newsom's remarks suggest that federal policy may not change soon.
Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.
This story was originally published by Vocemundi and is republished under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license. How we verified this story.
