‘Building back better, blah blah blah’: Greta Thunberg mocks Boris Johnson in climate speech

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Greta Thunberg has ridiculed leaders around the world for doing too much “blah blah blah” and not doing enough to tackle climate change.

The Swedish activist, along with fellow Ugandan environmental specialist Vanessa Nakate, was in Milan speaking at a youth summit.

At the climate meeting, Greta said: “Building back better. etc. etc. etc. Green economy. etc. etc. net zero by 2050. blah, blah, blah.”

Many politicians, notably Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden, have used these slogans and terms in speeches regularly. In February, Johnson harassed Biden at a G7 meeting for possibly being ‘nicknamed’ [the slogans] from U.S”.

Greta, 18, said she questioned the intentions of the organizers of the Youth4Climate event, which is run by the World Bank Group.

She said, “They invite the chosen youth to pretend they are listening to us. But they are not.

They are clearly not listening to us. Just look at the numbers. Emissions are still rising. Science does not lie.

“Leaders like to say, ‘We can do it.’ They obviously don’t mean it. We do.”

Vanessa, 24, said promises of around £85 billion a year to help poor countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change had not been fulfilled.

The richest countries have failed to deliver on a promise they made in 2010, in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to pay this amount by 2020.

She said wildfires in California and Greece and floods in Germany and Belgium show that “loss and damage is now possible everywhere,” but Africa is particularly affected even though the continent has “the lowest carbon dioxide emissions of any continent except Antarctica”.

She said that last week she saw police removing a body that had been swept away by storms in the Ugandan capital Kampala, while others searched for more victims.

Her mother told her that a man who had been dragged by water was trying to save the goods he was selling from the cliff.

Vanessa added, “No more empty conferences. It’s time to show us the money. It’s time, it’s time, it’s time. And don’t forget to listen to the people and areas most affected.”

Ms. Thunberg was filmed comforting Vanessa when she burst into tears after she was overwhelmed while speaking.

The three-day summit hosted around 400 activists aged between 15 and 29 from 186 countries.

It plans to send its recommendations on climate change to the UN’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, which begins on October 31.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China would no longer fund coal-fired plants overseas, and Biden announced a plan for the United States to double its green growth financial aid for poor countries.

In addition, Turkey said it would abide by the protocols of the Paris Agreement and South Africa announced more ambitious emissions targets.

These are good steps, said Roberto Cingolani, Italy’s Minister for Environmental Transformation, who is hosting the Youth Summit in Milan.

“They mean that they are moving in the right direction … I would never expect quantum leaps in this giant process at a global level. But the indicators are all good.”

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